T.G.C. PRASAD

Unusual People Do Things Differently

Contents

About the Author

Dedication

Preface

Theme 1: Strategic and Focused on Value Creation

1. Creating Value

2. Management of Technology

3. Stirring Recipes

4. A Businessman’s Attorney

5. Emerging Internet Users

6. Meeting Campus Graduates

7. Outbound Centre

8. Mallasamudram to Minneapolis

9. Each Step in the Right Direction

10. Realizing Potential and Making Dreams Come True

11. Technology for Self-Help Groups

12. Participatory Democracy

Theme 2: Perceptive and Derive Creative Solutions

13. Dump Your Leather Wallet

14. A Logo to Remember

15. Screenwriting

16. Simple Living, High Thinking

17. Cultural Integration Key to Mergers

18. Giving Is Important, Not How Much

19. Plan A, Wharton and Think Tanks

20. Pop Song in School Assembly

21. Play with Gary Kasparov

22. Keeping Happy

Theme 3: Driven by Business Excellence

23. Getting Funded

24. Go Collect Money

25. Outstanding Woman Manager 2009

26. Appeared Matriculation, but Failed (AMBF)

27. Recruiting and Recognizing A-players

28. Sales Is a Mind Game

29. Ambiguity–Direction Grid

30. Re-strategizing During Recession

31. Transforming Healthcare

32. Three Initiatives

Theme 4: Deploy Professional Skills to Win

33. Chak De! India—Coaching to Win

34. Overcoming the Fear of Failure

35. True Business-Partnering

36. Managing Patients

37. Stop when the Going Is Good

38. Asking for Discount

39. Combining Skills to Win Business

40. Professional Organizations

41. Adaptive Growth

42. Mentoring Is Bidirectional

43. Breaking Myths

Theme 5: Passionate and Lead from the Front

44. Building Trust

45. Trees for Free

46. Standing Tall

47. Passion plus Competencies

48. The Desire to Make Money

49. Mulberry Meadows

50. Successful People Are Average People

51. Dialogue for Peace

52. Carry People Along with You

Theme 6: Sensitive to People and Customer-centric

53. Remember My Name, ‘Srinivas’

54. Meeting Commitments

55. Million-dollar Massage-Parlour Business

56. The Talent Network

57. Three Rules of Survival

58. Fire in the Belly

59. Word of Mouth

60. Contextual Sensitivity

61. For Baby, Milk Is Free

62. Fireworks in the Office

63. Indian Flag in Epson Garden

64. Leadership with a Personal Touch

65. Making a Choice

Note from the Author

References

Acknowledgements

Copyright Page

PORTFOLIO

UNUSUAL PEOPLE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY

T.G.C. Prasad offers strategic, advisory, general management and HR consulting services to start-ups, small and medium enterprises, as well as Indian and MNC companies. He also offers executive coaching to senior management.

He has been on the board of Misys India, and has worked as country manager, global VP for Misys Plc. He has also worked with companies such as Wipro, Coopers & Lybrand, PWC, IBM, MindTree, and Alcatel-Lucent in various senior management roles globally.

He is a management committee member of the Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University)–Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Centre, Bangalore. He is also the national executive council member of Systems Society of India. He lives in Bangalore.

For revered Professor P.S. Satsangi Sahab

Preface

Sometime in 2001, in my early thirties, I took to running, overdid it and busted my ankles. Last year, I underwent couple of surgeries and was confined to my home where I got thoroughly bored surfing channels on TV. I wanted to do something meaningful and decided to write about the business and management lessons that I had learned in the last two decades. Like most of us, I had read far too much management theory about strengths and values, leadership and professionalism, positive behaviours and being effective, the five rules to immediate success, three ways of getting fired and what not. So, the first thing I decided was not to write theory. Don’t get me wrong; theory is important, but I was not in the mood for it.

One night before going to bed, I was reading the Panchatantra to my son and it occurred to me that simple business and management insights that we overlook in our daily lives can be easily and effectively conveyed through interesting short stories. And I decided to write short stories about unusual people who do things differently.

Unusual people are ordinary people who strive to do extraordinary things. They are business-driven, customer-centric, effective team players who constantly raise the bar on performance as they learn, teach, contribute, strategize and work. Although their chosen paths may not lead to success, they are determined to walk it and arrive at their destination. They may not care about recognition and accolades; for them creating something of value and bringing about change is more important. They are sensitive to people and leave behind an indelible mark.

In choosing the unusual people featured in this book, I first shortlisted names of close friends and colleagues who taught me the depth of management thought, then people with whom I had had short but meaningful interactions. Finally, I approached men and women who had inspired me and asked them to share their experiences and views. I started with an initial shortlist of about five hundred people and pruned it down to sixty-five, based on the context, the insights offered, the uniqueness of experience and the profession they related to. Since most of my experience is related to consulting and the information technology industry, I veered a little towards the knowledge industry, but was careful to include people from a broad professional spectrum. CEOs, doctors, a nurse, the director general of police, CTOs, realtors, an attorney, a chartered accountant, a chef, a sportsman and a consultant are among those who made my list.

When an event takes place or when a story is narrated, the focus and perspective varies based on the author’s perspective. While penning the narratives, I realized that some stories were more profound, while others were simpler in their messages. The Mahabharata runs deep and the Panchatantra is anecdotal, yet both are deeply insightful. Since I believed that conveying the insight mattered more than establishing veracity, I retained the realistic context of the events and wove an appropriate narrative which included perspectives related to end-results, journeys that people undertook and behaviours they exhibited. The stories are not like parables where each chapter ends with a ‘moral’. I believe you will gather interesting insights as you read each chapter. The essence is in your interpretation and understanding of the context.

To give overall structure to the book I performed an in-depth analysis and arrived at six broad themes. Since people operate in multiple contexts, bracketing them under a theme may not have been apt and hence I picked a dominant factor for each story and aligned it to a theme. From the stories included in this book and based on the context of each narrative, people are aligned to one of the six broad themes as given below:

1. Strategic and focused on value creation

2. Perceptive and derive creative solutions

3. Driven by business excellence

4. Deploy professional skills to win

5. Passionate and lead from the front

6. Sensitive to people and are customer-centric

As you begin reading this book, I urge you to remember that themes are more often than not subjective, limiting the expression of specifics, and could over-generalize. Hence, it would be best to quickly skim through the themes and focus on each story, for the real meat is in there.

I believe this book will be useful to all those who work, perform, aspire to grow, manage and lead. It will help graduate students, business people, professionals, career-oriented youngsters, and people across any industry or any function. The management lessons learnt are broad and can be applied in a global context too.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Theme 1: Strategic and Focused on Value Creation

These stories are about people who transform companies and create value and wealth. These people can unlock the hidden value of an idea to create or revive and sustain companies. They experiment with various management interventions and come up with practical solutions to problems. They establish strong management principles and make cohesive teams, transforming structures, processes and mindsets of people. They take quick decisions, understand the repercussions and propel the organization towards definite change. They have a great perspective of the future and take appropriate steps to create a strong foundation. They have the ability to see both the micro and macro perspectives and can identify opportunities from all economic strata. They intuitively know when to buy and sell and make the right calls when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. They think big, build effective partnerships and launch global products and services. These people are passionate about their businesses and work hard to evolve successful enterprises that are focused on bettering the quality of life.

1

Creating Value

Mike Lawrie is the CEO of Misys Plc, a Financial Times Stock Exchange-listed IT products’ company that services 1,200 banks globally. Before he joined Misys, Mike was a partner with Value Act Capital; prior to that he was CEO of Siebel Stems. Before joining Siebel, Mike had been with IBM for twenty-seven years and was on Louis Gerstner’s succession plan.

- When Mike joined Misys Plc as its CEO in 2006, he inherited a challenging legacy.

- Misys Plc was a holding company and with the banking business surviving on recurring license fees (RLFs), competition from i-flex, Infosys and Temenos was rapidly eating into the company’s market share.

- Healthcare had two businesses—hospitals and physicians. While the former was a cash cow, its annual growth was sluggish, and although the latter was growing it was far from generating large profits.

- There were competing products in the company’s portfolio.

- Misys corporate hadn’t consolidated operations in a long time. The organization was spread over about twelve companies and more than forty development centres worldwide; each entity had its own systems, policies, procedures and culture.

- Clients were disappointed with the customer-support operations.

- There was serious lack of leadership throughout the company.

The first thing Mike did was to put a strategy in place. He called it the ‘Fix-Grow-Lead’ strategy.

The ‘Fix’ stage is probably one of the toughest phases because it involves transforming the company from within, based on external market conditions. Mike had to knock off debt, sell under-performing products and businesses, recast leadership and change the culture of the company. In order to achieve desired results, he made radical decisions:

- Within weeks of taking charge, Mike sold Sesame, the independent financial advisory business for US$178.2 million to Life Insurer Friends Provident.

- He engaged McKinsey to prepare a blueprint for holistic transformation at Misys Plc. McKinsey came up with a work-group strategy to fix sales and services, improve customer satisfaction, people engagement, and financial MIS reporting etc., and assigned senior leaders to work on specific work groups.

- Mike retained the services of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to study the healthcare business. Based on BCG’s recommendations to restructure healthcare portfolio, he sold the hospital business to Vista Equity Partners for $382 million and the Misys CPR hospital clinical system to QuadraMed for $33 million. He not only cleared all debts but also kept some of the money to shop for acquisitions. ‘I had to take a call,’ Mike says. ‘Growing the hospital business needed big technology investments, but I wanted to invest in the new generation core banking platform called Bank Fusion.’

- Meanwhile, Mike quickly hired a new management team from his network and references. ‘Get the best leaders in the industry, give them stock, give them direction and wait for miracles to happen.’ And he was right. Good leaders make a huge difference in any venture. Senior executives were asked to invest in the company’s stock programme, and their performance and reward was tied to stock growth and earnings per share (EPS).

- Partnerships were given prime importance. Mike tied up with SAP, a leader in business management software. HCL Technologies and Symphony Services were also involved to help with product development and service delivery.

- He prioritized offshoring and made ‘India development centre the hub for product development. Manila became the centre for running maintenance services. He was the only senior executive who visited India regularly every quarter and met with the product teams to understand what they were doing. ‘Turnarounds need CEO presence,’ Mike says.

- By late 2008, development centre locations were rationalized and Misys ended up with six centres—Bangalore, Manila, London, Dublin, Bucharest and Raleigh. (Chicago remained the prime development centre for Allscripts, where Misys subsequently acquired majority stake.) He closed office locations where physical infrastructure was inadequate and moved workplaces to better physical locations. Mike says, ‘Consolidation to better locations often leads to high performance.’

- Mike focused on consolidating the finance and HR processes within Misys. He asked information systems to get every employee on a common e-mail platform to improve communication across the company.

- He introduced a matrix organizational structure in every function for two reasons. First, he wanted people in a function across the globe to talk to each other and second, a matrix organization brings a sense of inclusiveness and accountability to decision-making.

- Mike addressed large employee-gatherings. ‘We are transforming and either you are on the bus or you are not. If you are in-between, take a week off, think about it, decide and come back. If you can’t decide where you are, how can you take decisions on behalf of the company?’

As the ‘Fix’ phase was taking shape, Mike began thinking about the next stage—‘Grow’. In March 2008, he bought about 55 per cent of Allscripts, a leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions for $330 million to form Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. Interestingly, at the time of this transaction Misys received a firm commitment from Lehmann Brothers that they would provide debt financing with an underwriting commitment from Value Act Capital. However, Lehmann Brothers collapsed in September 2008, a month before payment to Allscripts was due, and with the financial world in complete disarray money vanished overnight and no bank was willing to give loans. This did not deter Mike; within weeks he raised $330 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB and infused capital to pay Allscripts’ shareholders. Subsequently, in June 2010, Mike sold a majority stake of 54.6 per cent in Allscripts for about $ 1.3 billion, facilitating an all-stock merger with the Atlanta-based Eclipsys Corporation. This transaction led to substantial wealth creation for Misys stakeholders. Within months, in November 2010, from the money secured from disinvestment in Allscripts, Mike went ahead and acquired Sophis SCA, a software provider for capital markets, for US$ 593 million. The transaction fortified Misys’s position in the treasury and the capital-market segment. To an outsider, Mike makes buying and selling companies look easy. But the amount of homework he and his top team put in is incredible.

As part of the ‘Lead’ phase, Mike invested heavily in developing the ‘BankFusion’ platform. When he was considering revamping the financials business, he came across a database-agnostic, modular architecture-driven platform called ‘Trepedza’. He quickly got the product evaluated and though it was in the early stages of development, he went ahead and bought it, renaming it BankFusion. Mike believed combining BankFusion with strong universal banking applications could provide the right transition path for all existing customers. He was right; with BankFusion, Misys has a great chance to be the industry leader in addressing the banking needs of customers all over the world. By early 2011, within about two years of its launch, the BankFusion platform attracted a whopping thirty-two customers. By early 2011, the Misys stock price that had gone below £1 around recession time, bounced back to £3.25.

During this transformation, I learned several valuable lessons from him:

- The ‘Fix–Grow–Lead’ strategy has three distinct phases that together lead to the overall transformation of the company. Depending upon the business opportunity, different interventions can be applied in any part of the transformation.

- Take bets on products and platforms. Once you are certain that you are going to create a disruptive platform or an application, go the whole hog on your investments. Make sure they succeed.

- If a company has to transform rapidly, it is better to involve experts you know and have already worked with so the process can begin quickly and efficiently.

- Be extremely clear about what you want to accomplish. Any obstacle that comes in the way either has to be removed or circumvented.

- Create a culture of urgency and identify ‘centres of excellence’. The former drives people and the latter give a sense of direction.

- Cut across lines of hierarchy and reach out to your people and explain what you want. Give them direction and vision. Be transparent and truthful. Mike always articulated consequences clearly. ‘I will be honest with you guys. I am investing heavily in BankFusion and we have to make sure it takes off. Else, I will have to exercise a difficult choice, which you may not like.’

- Mike made sure that his senior executives and best performers were given stock grants every year. He created incentives for the staff with ‘pay for performance’ plans. The underlying principle is to make sure that people are stakeholders in the turnaround strategy.

- Be honest and candid with your leadership team. If things are not working out, tell them and help them reset their careers and expectations.

- Do not accept mediocre work. Turnarounds cannot happen with mediocre work and mediocre people.

- Be realistic in pressing people to deliver more. If you pull the string too hard, it will break. Maintain a balance when dealing with people—support them when they fall, push them when they are complacent. Sounds like a cliché, but this is reality.

Very few people can bring as much value to an organization as Mike Lawrie brought to Misys Plc. He transformed Misys Plc from a holding company to an operating company. His acquisitions and investments paid off and both the healthcare (Allscripts) and treasury businesses became number one in their respective markets. Now, with the launch of the BankFusion platform, the banking business too, hopefully, is in a position to become the industry leader.

I once asked Mike, ‘How do you keep laughing and keep yourself stress-free?’ He replied, ‘I talk it out. I tell you and my team what I want and you guys get it done. So, why should I be stressed?’

2

Management of Technology

Cory Eaves has an impressive résumé. He currently works as senior VP at General Atlantic Partners, a venture capital firm based in New York. Cory has served as the CTO of SSA Global, one of the world’s largest enterprise software providers, and held key management and technology positions at a number of technology firms, including Infinium, Lycos and Emerson Electric.

Cory first met Mike Lawrie when he was on the board of SSA Global and Cory was its CTO. Mike was impressed with Cory’s unique ability to transform technology solutions into marketable products and when Mike began transforming Misys, he invited Cory to join as the company’s CTO and CIO in mid-2007. Cory agreed, but before signing up performed a quick due diligence. He realized that Misys needed a really big change. There were forty-odd development centres where multiple heads were driving product development across business units with no common thread. Each unit had its own independent architecture, tools and infrastructure function. Employees were recruited for specific projects and didn’t have a role to play if the project was scrapped. Budgeting was business-unit driven and there was no flexibility in the reallocation of funds to different products. There was no serious development leadership council.

Cory brought about the transformation of the development organization in two stages. In the first stage, upon joining Misys, he recruited talented professionals and created the ‘Development Leadership Council’. He quickly asked Mike Sainsbury and Rick Bernard, both of whom Cory had worked with at SSA Global, to take charge of global operations and technology respectively. Next, Mark Winterburn joined from Lloyds Bank as head of product development for core banking. Mark’s operating style is brilliant; he recruits the best, shows them the direction and gives them space to perform. He is brutal when it comes to performance but quite soft-hearted when it comes to helping people—a rare combination.

In the second stage Cory put a global development structure in place. Bangalore was part of the global strategy. He visited India in August 2007 and met with me. I explained the situation—we had two legal entities, three general managers and functions such as HR, finance, and administration were duplicated across offices—and suggested strong interventions. The day he arrived, Cory held meetings with all the senior leaders and in the evening he and I went out for dinner at Karavalli. During dinner he said, ‘Prasad, the development organization is a mess. The India operations aren’t in good shape either. We need to bring about large-scale change. I am introducing a new global structure wherein there will be three product development verticals representing each business unit and three horizontals—operations, technology and infrastructure—which will cut across the verticals. Operations will handle resource management, maintenance and quality. Technology will predominantly manage product architecture. Infrastructure will take care of common project management tools and bug-logging processes. This structure must be replicated in India, too.’

‘Cory, I know how this structure works,’ I replied, ‘but don’t you think the overheads will increase substantially? Isn’t this structure more suited for application services companies that have large pools of people to manage and deploy?’

Cory nodded, ‘I agree. However, given the current context, this structure is useful to us in the following ways:

- Consolidation—We are a small company but have too many development centres and must rationalize.

- Budgeting—Each business unit has its own R&D budget and creating a development function will help generate a holistic view and enable us to move money across products.

- Decision-making—People with similar competencies are spread across different levels with massive differences in compensation. We are poorly off-shored too. This structure will bring consistency in levels and speed up the decision-making process.

- Technology—This structure will help create a technology and architecture road-map across products, which does not exist today.

- Tools and infrastructure—Right now there are no standard time-tracking mechanisms, no standard bug-fixing modes and far too many version management tools. By introducing this structure, we eliminate redundancy and save money.

- India—The development centre will need consolidation. It will be an integral part of the global structure with you in charge. We will remove redundancy in all functions, especially the existing general manager roles, and bring sanity.’

Once I was convinced about the model, we identified people for the new roles and responsibilities. The next day Cory talked to them and by evening a communication detailing the new India-development structure, leadership names and functions was sent out to the entire organization. Meanwhile Misys Healthcare divested the hospital business and Misys India spun off a portion of its healthcare business as ‘Sunquest’ and the remaining employees were absorbed into Misys Financial Systems. Within weeks ‘Financial Systems’ became ‘Software Solutions’. All common functions were rationalized and unified, Finance, HR, Information Systems (IS) and administrative functions were reconstituted. The restructuring of the Indian operation was complete. Then Cory instituted weekly development review meetings, monthly steering review meetings with the CEO and finally the face-to-face quarterly development review meetings. With that the first phase of restructuring was over.

That was probably one of the quickest changes I have seen. Cory worked almost sixteen hours every day and made quick decisions; he was a man with a mission to accomplish.

In the second phase of the transformation Cory focused on five key aspects:

- Creating new-generation applications and platforms: He paid special attention to the new-generation platform called BankFusion. The India centre added almost 400 people in eighteen months to work on these platforms and applications.

- Spend analysis and cross business-unit budgeting: He realized that we were spending way too much money on product maintenance. So he pushed for higher productivity and cut the maintenance budget and pushed the funds towards developing new products. He created a cross business-unit budget that gave us the flexibility of resourcing.

- Location consolidation: Since the company was losing too much money on multiple development centres, Cory restructured the company to have six key development centres globally.

- HR restructuring: He pushed for the creation of a uniform set of levels, titles and career paths across all the business units and established a common benchmark for people management practices.

- Partner management: Misys was poorly leveraging partnerships. So a portion of the budget was allocated for partners to work on maintenance, version management and transition development.

Within eighteen months the Bangalore centre showed 63 per cent positive growth. While the rate of attrition in the development function worldwide dropped to single digits, India witnessed a whole quarter with zero regretted attrition. Development was back within budgetary limits.

Just before he left to join as senior VP and technology partner for General Atlantic Partners, Cory told me, ‘Prasad, in most companies which need transformation, often the missing piece is the management of technology. Fix it and the rest automatically falls in place.’

Though Cory was with Misys for less than two years, he left a deep impression on the company. He completely changed the face of the development and IS functions. Even with the best brains and intentions, at times it becomes difficult to deliver marketable technology products because of the absence of strong management. Hence, rapid product-delivery needs good leadership and execution in the form of strong management processes.

When I was managing the India centre, Cory was instrumental in changing my mindset on managing compensation. Having worked in application services companies, I believed in ‘internal parity and equity with external benchmarks’. It was Cory who introduced me to the idea of ‘personalized compensation’. He said, ‘During transformation, never lose your best people, especially those who are turning the wheel of change. Do whatever it takes to retain them, pay them significantly more than market compensation.’ Normally, at mid-senior levels, the percentage payout difference between a high performer and an average performer is a maximum of 10–15 per cent. However, the value delivered by the former could be almost twice that of the latter. Companies must substantially compensate for that kind of value, else high performers begin to feel disenchanted and leave. But often HR departments compare with other people within the same level and say, ‘No, can’t increase the pay, he is already compensated well.’ I think the level-based compensation grid should be used as a framework to keep most people happy, but when it comes to high performers, we must adjust their pay accordingly. A company’s top performers should be compensated above their market value and the typical differential between them and an average performer within the same level should not be less than 20–25 per cent. Appropriate compensation will make these people focus on their work and be less inclined to consider opportunities elsewhere.

Often transformations are tough and stressful, but people like Cory make them look easy and keep you bouncing from one win to the next. When you jive comfortably in a complex ride, then you know that you are working with stalwarts who know exactly what they are doing. On the flip side, transformations tend to get rough and leave unruly scars when senior people in your company are handling it for the first time in their life. My suggestion would be, ‘When you have large scale and complex transformation, always engage senior people who have done it before—the effort reduces significantly.’

3

Stirring Recipes

Karavalli at the Taj Gateway, Bangalore, is one of my family’s favourite restaurants. Karavalli means ‘of the coast’ and specializes in south-west Indian coastal food. The restaurant was awarded the Times Food Guide award for the best seafood in Bangalore. Karavalli’s interiors are inspired by elements of coastal architecture—the low-hanging tiled roof, wooden ceiling, antique furniture and the old seafarer maps add up to make for a fantastic ambience—and the food is delicious. Executive Chef Naren Thimmaiah is one of the top chefs in India and holds the distinction of having participated in the World Gourmet Summit, held at Singapore in 2005, where only ten chefs from across the world are invited to present their expertise. He had joined the Taj Gateway as a trainee chef two decades ago, and became one of the people instrumental in setting up and nurturing the restaurant.

Karavalli was the brainchild of Camellia Punjabi, senior VP (sales and marketing) of the Taj Group. She is a popular cookbook author and restaurateur who is credited with introducing regional Indian cuisine in the UK through her chain of world-class restaurants, including Masala Zone, Chutney Mary, Veerasamy and Amaya. Camellia wanted to include Indian coastal cuisine at the Taj Gateway.

If Camellia had the vision, Mohan Kumar, general manager of Taj Gateway, gave life to her idea. Creating a speciality restaurant is not easy; it requires meticulous execution. A menu must be planned, authentic recipes have to be selected carefully to represent the flavours of the region, special attention must be paid to the quality of the ingredients used, their preparation and the final presentation.

Keeping these challenges in mind, the Taj Group decided that the best way to set up the restaurant was to send people to different parts of the region to study traditional methods of cooking. Chef Sriram was sent to Kerala, Chef Bernadette Pinto was sent to Goa and the young trainee Chef Thimmaiah was sent to Mangalore. Each chef was expected to find popular recipes that could sell, learn how to prepare them, understand the list of ingredients and identify sources for procurement. Once the first part of the study was done they had to recreate the dishes in the Taj kitchen and train the kitchen and serving staff.

Chef Thimmaiah recounts his study-tour experience. ‘Overall, I spent nearly four weeks travelling, learning, cooking and taking notes. I never ate twice at the same place and ate whenever I found something interesting, even if I was not hungry. I ate at popular roadside eateries, where I interviewed the cook and discussed the local cuisine. Once, I ate at a small roadside shack and got an upset stomach that put me off the road for a few days. At hotels like Usha and Sagar in Mangalore, I asked the hotel owners to give me permission to meet their cooks and learn how to prepare some of the dishes on the menu. I even asked my friends for their help and they generously allowed me to stay at their homes where I spent time with their mothers, sisters and wives to understand how they cooked. I asked numerous questions that they were happy to answer. It was a unique experience for them as well.’

This experience taught Chef Thimmaiah three important things: that people and cultures define recipes, that within a region there are sub-specialties that could be explored and that people cook differently, so it is almost impossible to replicate a dish.

Once the initial study was done, the chefs submitted their respective tour reports. The reports were extensively debated upon and a menu offering a combination of eighty vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes from Kerala, Mangalore, Karwar and Goa was prepared. Since its inception on 21 June 1990, while the core dishes continue to feature on the menu, the menu itself has undergone several changes and every year about fifteen new items are added. Karavalli has an annual menu engineering exercise to analyse and revise the menu. The items on the menu are segmented into four categories: dogs, question marks, plough horses and stars.

Karavalli employs eight people in the kitchen and twelve servers and the restaurant apparently does close to a million dollars of business every year. Chef Thimmaiah runs the place with precision and like clockwork. He says, ‘Sale in a restaurant happens very subtly. Sometimes guests ask for our recommendations and we suggest our star dishes because we want them to relish the experience and come back again. A majority of our patrons are repeat customers and know what to order. We encourage our cooks to meet our customers and gather feedback. That helps leave a mark in the minds of our customers too.’

Karavalli is ISO 22000 certified, strictly adheres to food processing guidelines and runs on world-class hygiene standards. Chef Thimmaiah says, ‘We have data on consumption patterns for weekdays, weekends, holidays and festivals. We also have data on what kind of food is eaten for lunch and what to prepare for dinner. This is part of the cost-and-process optimization method that we undertake regularly. I taste most of the dishes prepared in all the restaurants every day to ensure consistency of taste and quality.’ He adds, ‘Karavalli runs food festivals every year. The monsoon hits the coast in June and goes on till September during which time the government does not allow fish trawling. Once the monsoon ends, we source fresh fish and organize the ‘Aquafest’ in November. A lot of our guests look forward to this food festival. There are other events as well, like the Goan food festival, that Chef Rego from the Taj Goa comes for, and the Manglorean food festival that Chef Prabhakaran supervises. Every year in September, guests arrive in scores for the Kerala Onam Sadhya.’

Chef Thimmaiah had some interesting information to share about the restaurant:

- Karavalli is one of India’s premier south-west coast restaurants that serves both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Only 42 per cent of our dishes have coconut in them.

- Nearly 80 per cent of our guests are repeat customers who return for the authentic taste of the cuisine.

- Sourcing the right ingredients is as important as preparing the dish. We source the best spices from Kerala, buy ice creams from Baskin-Robbins and shop for fresh produce. Choosing the right suppliers is essential because they become an integral part of your supply chain.

- Most customers prefer to come to speciality restaurants like Karavalli to do business deals and we encourage long lunches and dinners.

- The overall experience at Karavalli is a combination of the regional taste, the ambience and our exemplary service.

- Our people attrition rate is almost zero because our people love what they do and the management appreciates their hard work and enthusiasm.

Stirring recipes is not easy. There is a lot of hard work that goes into building a successful restaurant; Chef Thimmaiah has had to understand people, cultures, recipes, tastes, sensitivities, ambience as well as basics like service, storage, procurement, etc., to make Karavalli one of the foremost epicurean delights in the country.

Interact with Chef Thimmaiah and you will know that he has an agile mind behind his soft-spoken demeanour. With absolute ease, he can reel out names of dishes, ingredients, places, experiences and what have you. Quiz him and he can read you the entire recipe with all the ingredients with the right proportions and how to cook the most authentic coastal dish within minutes and without referring to the recipe book. He is fantastic when it comes to relating to his people. Once when we were having mid-afternoon tea, he realized that sugar cubes were missing, and when the server came to our table he delicately pointed it out, without even uttering a word and without interrupting our conversation, and within minutes sugar cubes appeared. The server gave a sheepish grin and Chef Thimmaiah just smiled and that conveyed a lot. He says, ‘People are smart and they just need some direction. My job is to keep them enthused and encouraged and rest they take care themselves.’ Can’t be simpler!

4

A Businessman’s Attorney

Two of my close friends started a real-estate company some time ago and entered a joint-venture agreement with a landowner to develop an eight-acre plot into a world-class gated residential community. The arrangement was simple—the landlord would lease the property and the developers would construct independent homes with modern amenities at their cost. Both parties had a share in the final product.

Incidentally, this was the first joint venture for both the developers and the landlord, and all the aspects of the project were unfamiliar. However, both parties were well educated and respected each other, and were able to establish basic ground rules. Sometimes developers and landowners (typically farmers) form unfeasible agreements that lead to disputes and both parties incur substantial losses. In the real-estate industry it is vital to understand who you are dealing with and on what footing the project took off, because legalities, financial viability, concept and overall plan of execution determine the success of a project.

In order to protect the rights of the customers, the landlord and the developer in a joint venture such as this, it is important that all parties sign the Joint Development Agreement (JDA) and the General Power of Attorney (GPA). The JDA spells out the terms of business—sharing of revenue, costs, schedules, quality, designs and penalties—and is signed by both parties. The GPA documents the rights and is issued by the landlord to the developer. Besides having the right paperwork and clearly defined roles, joint ventures of this nature succeed only if the partnership between the two parties is strong and based on trust.

In this case, during the discussions on the JDA and GPA, the landowner was not willing to sign the GPA favouring the developers. Since the developers had never worked on such a large project before, the landowner felt that by signing the GPA he would lose control of the land. He offered to sign all the relevant papers if the developers made him a partner in their company. He was probably right from his perspective. However, the developers insisted on a GPA because banks require these documents to fund potential customers who would be interested in buying the property. Since everybody was new to this kind of arrangement, they decided to bring in their respective lawyers.

In the next meeting the lawyers started talking sections, rules, clauses and the discussion ended in utter confusion. Several such meetings were held over the next couple of months, but no headway was made. Finally, dissatisfied with their lawyer’s work, the developers fired him and began looking for someone who would convince the landlord and help close the deal.

That is when they met Anil Kumar Shetty. Anil understood the situation quickly and agreed to represent the developers. On the day of the meeting with the landlord, after the introductions had been made, Anil began by saying, ‘There are three things we should all keep in mind today. We are all interested in making this deal happen. Since it is a complex process, let us keep the business terms simple and, lastly, try to make it a win-win arrangement for both parties.’

Both the landlord and developers warmed up to the opening statement. The landlord said, ‘Make me a partner-director in the developer’s company and I don’t have to give a GPA.’

Anil replied, ‘Sir, ownership of land doesn’t change even after becoming a partner-director in the company, unless you intend to pledge the titles of the land to the company, which is tantamount to signing a GPA. Being a director on the board will not help protect your rights. A landlord typically comes in as a joint-venture partner and we should stick to that.’ That settled the issue of directorship because the landlord obviously didn’t want to pledge the titles with the developer’s company.

Then the negotiation veered towards penalties and the ‘what if’ clauses. Anil noticed that both parties were discussing all the negative clauses and it was not going anywhere. He quickly interjected and said, ‘Gentlemen, since we aim to form a simple and successful agreement, most penalty clauses should be nominal. If the clauses become too stringent, then both parties will think only about the risk and not about success. That will set us all behind.’ That was an eye-opener for everyone and they agreed to focus more on the success factors and less on the penal clauses.

When it was time to formalize the business terms, Anil suggested that in the GPA the landlord only authorizes the developers to work on the site and sell their share of the villas. He also advised the developers to issue a GPA to the landlord, allowing him to sell his share of the villas. Both the landlord and the developers immediately agreed; it was a win-win arrangement for both parties.

Many people get perturbed when they are asked to sign a GPA. What they probably do not know is that GPAs can have limiting clauses too. A GPA doesn’t mean giving away one’s assets; it simply means giving an ‘agent’ certain rights and permitting them to act on one’s behalf. GPAs can be time-bound, person-bound and context-bound too. Both the ‘principal’ and the ‘agent’ can define what they want in a GPA and protect their interests. The challenge arises when attorneys don’t understand your business and start debating laws and clauses, which doesn’t lead to anything.

By the end of that first meeting, substantial progress had been made. Anil summarized the points and recorded the minutes and noted the points where there was a difference of opinion between the parties, agreeing to sort them out in the next meeting.

What other lawyers could not accomplish in almost six months Anil had achieved in a single session. Throughout the negotiations, Anil never referred to a single statutory section, law or clause. Instead, he simplified the process by establishing ground rules, focusing on the positive factors and finding straightforward solutions to the issues. Some attorneys can’t even draft a simple agreement and often take weeks and months to read documents and give opinions. In one instance, a client engaged an attorney to do legal verification related to buying a villa. The attorney took four months and Rs 10,000 to give his legal opinion for a property that had already been cleared by most banks in the country and because of the inordinate delay on attorney’s part, the deal did not go through. If you encounter such attorneys—you’ll be able to judge their capabilities within the first few meetings—you should walk away from them for they will not be of any use to you. Also, it is best to fix a fee when dealing with attorneys, even if it is a bit on the higher side. At least you know what you are up against and the attorney will be more inclined to wrap up your problem quickly and efficiently, secure his payment and move on.

While the deliberations were going on, one of the developers called Anil, who was out of town then, to check on a specific detail pertaining to the joint-development agreement. Anil thought for a moment and said, ‘That clause has been added in page twenty-two of the agreement.’ He was so involved with the deal that he remembered even the smallest detail of the agreements.

Often attorneys focus on doing things the right way; they should also focus on doing the right things, being business-oriented. In any business, risk is inevitable and focusing on the ‘what ifs’ only reduces one’s chances of succeeding. One must maintain a balance between negative elements and the factors critical for success. It is important not to prematurely walk out of business deals or take rash decisions based on overconfidence. The traditional role of an attorney is gradually morphing into that of a business advisor. It is no longer just about contesting cases, but also resolving issues amicably. Even after winning a case, an attorney has to satisfy several caveats, and the best way to do that is to opt for arbitration and settle.

My interactions with Anil taught me to look at amicable methods in solving issues. ‘It is a question of how you look at it and from whose perspective,’ he told me. ‘Laws give you a framework, previous cases give you precedence and judges give you decisions based on certain contexts. The system is built to address intent and perspective holds the key. Hence focus on solving and not getting stuck.’

I call people like Anil Shetty ‘the businessman’s attorney’. Cultivate them if you are in business; you will really need them.

5

Emerging Internet Users

Dimple works as program manager at a leading Internet firm. One of her assignments was to help set up an Internet research lab to understand how people with very basic education adapted to and used the Net as well as analyse the usage dynamics and navigation patterns of first-time users. So she established the lab within the company premises for the use of contractor personnel like drivers, housekeeping staff and cooks.

Once the project started, as part of the orientation programme, it was explained to the contractor personnel that the research lab had been established to:

- Train them to use computers and navigate the Net

- Understand how the Internet impacted their lives

- Monitor and study the usage pattern of first-time users

After the orientation programme, trainers fluent in Tamil and Kannada were employed to facilitate the training. However, most of the drivers, housekeeping boys and cooks were reluctant to use the computers because they felt that the Internet was meant for the educated class, not them. This myth had to be broken and as part of the familiarization process, the trainers played popular Kannada and Tamil songs on YouTube, downloaded pictures of popular film actors and actresses, and introduced other websites and social networking applications like Google and Orkut. The contractor personnel loved what they saw. They quickly realized that computers could be used for more than just work.

However, accustomed to the more user-friendly mobile phones, they had some difficulty using the computer keyboards and remembering URLs, commands, etc. The project team realized that they needed an interface that was similar to a mobile phone where buttons initiate actions—‘Send’ sends an SMS; ‘Enter’ dials a number; ‘Escape’ aborts current processes. Basically each button performed a certain command. So, the project team created a simple button-based application and called it ‘desktop gadget’ and made it available on the screen. The desktop gadget enabled the user to launch selected applications with the click of the mouse instead of remembering URLs. Also, since the keyboards were in English, the trainers introduced transliteration to the team. With transliteration, Kannada words could be typed using the English-language keyboard and Kannada script would appear on the screen. With the introduction of the desktop gadget and transliteration, people started making rapid progress and within a week were navigating the Web comfortably.

In the next phase, trainers helped the group create e-mail accounts, use chat applets and download and use simple applications. This was a big hit with the users because now they could share files and chat online.

‘The working class predominantly uses e-mail to communicate,’ Dimple said. ‘However, I think first-time users are attracted to the Net because of the multimedia and chat features. People love to see good videos, chat, get information and listen to music. For example, drivers are free most of the day and read newspapers extensively. The radio is an important medium for them to get local news. They start correlating the news they hear or read in the newspapers with the information available on the Net. For example, drivers read about President Obama in the newspapers and then “googled” him. Cooks searched for recipes on different websites and the housekeeping boys loved browsing movies and music.’

Within a month of using the computers, the group had become familiar with concepts like ‘URL’, ‘browser’, ‘cut’, ‘copy’ and ‘paste’, etc., and could distinguish between a ‘computer’ and the ‘Internet’. With their intimate knowledge of the roads, by-lanes, back alleys, short cuts, etc., the drivers even started using popular map-marking software to mark routes, points of interest and businesses. In the course of the program, the trainers noticed that the group often misspelled words and didn’t notice keyword suggestions provided by popular search engines. Once they pointed this out to the group they quickly learnt that too. This solved their issues with incorrect spellings to a certain extent.

‘We looked at the usage statistics almost on a daily basis. We wanted to know sites people visited, what they typed, how they navigated the Net, what excited them, and where they spent most of their time. Within a few months of the launch of the program, a few of them bought second-hand computers and started teaching their children at home. This was probably the biggest success of the outreach programme. The strategy of understanding user behaviour is manifold and many companies are trying out innovative efforts to understand it. Some companies set up labs, some companies educate the masses and some run training programmes. There is no definitive answer,’ says Dimple.

For example, in 2009, Google launched the Internet Bus Project, ‘an attempt to educate people about what the Internet is and how it may be beneficial to their lives, by taking the Internet experience to them through a customized Internet-enabled bus, which will travel to several towns and cities across India.’ A team is commissioned to explain the Internet to the common man. Recently, Google also introduced ‘Noticeboard’, a new application that intends to improve the way Indian communities share information online. Each village could have a Noticeboard account and the account captures fertilizer advertisements, community requests, crop advice, sale of goods, and information related to health and hygiene. These Noticeboards can be shared across villages, thus increasing participation and enhancing the exchange of information.

Dimple concludes by saying, ‘Though companies are trying, it is not easy to hook Indian users at the grass roots to the Net. People expect hand-holding and there are too many cultural barriers to break. Hand-holding to log on to the Internet is not a solution. Creating awareness and propagating a culture of self-help is probably a better option. From a systems approach, we realize that simplifying the user interface, creating personalization and entertainment-based applications will make the real difference.’

Some of these methods could be game-changers in attracting the next million or billion Internet users. There are important lessons to be learnt from this experiment:

- The myth that computers are for the educated must be broken. People have adopted cellphones, but somehow when it comes to computers, there seems to be a barrier. I think it’s just a matter of time before cellphones become computers in the hands of many and their computing power matches that of a laptop.

- People expect hand-holding, training and education to learn about computers and the Net, but that is an unviable approach because the number of people to be trained is staggering. Creating awareness and self-help communities may be a better approach.

- Multimedia and Web 2.0 features seem to be the major draw for computer users. Once hooked, people could learn to use applications related to education, business and search engines. Once people see the economic benefits of using computers, they will be more inclined to adopt them for use in their everyday lives.

- The design of the traditional keyboard has to change. Button-based gadgets which deploy action sequences could be the next approach to improving usability.

In India, about 88 million people are active Internet users, mobile phone penetration has crossed 550 million and the literacy rate for fifteen years and above is 66 per cent. India has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth, and assuming that population is 1.2 billion, mobile phones have penetrated more than 50 per cent of the country. What does this mean? Access, portability, ease, purpose of use and low costs seem to drive user behaviour. I think, ‘localized low-cost easy-to-use miniature tablets’ would bring masses to the Net!

6

Meeting Campus Graduates

In 1991, while doing my postgraduation in management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, I did a summer internship at Wipro InfoTech, Bangalore. At the end of my assignment, my supervisor, R. Vidyasagar, general manager HR, told me that they would like to extend a job offer to me when Wipro visited the campus the following year and asked if I would be interested. I readily agreed. One thing most people learn at B-school is not to say ‘no’ to any opportunities that come their way.

The following year, K.K. Bhagwadia, head of Compensation and Benefits at Wipro, came to the Tata campus and, as promised, made an all-inclusive joining salary offer of Rs 72,000 per annum. After all the deductions, my take-home salary was about Rs 3800 per month. At the same time, Pramodh Sadarjoshi, VP, HR, from Citibank, also came to the campus and talked about a job offer at almost double of what Wipro was offering. Like most students, I was in a dilemma.

A few days later we were invited to have tea with V.S. Mahesh, corporate VP, HR, at Wipro’s corporate office on the fourteenth floor of Bhaktawar Towers in Nariman Point. It was an informal gathering, and Azim Premji, CMD of Wipro, joined us briefly. During the conversations that ensued, he came to me, smiled, shook hands and said, ‘You must be Prasad. I heard you are the topper in your batch. Congratulations! I am happy you chose Wipro. I hope you will have a good career with us. By the way, why did you choose Wipro?’

I was sure he had read my personnel file before meeting me. I liked his unassuming style and the fact that the chairman of Wipro Corporation was sparing time to meet us.

I replied, ‘Sir, I did my internship at Wipro and liked the people. Besides, IT fascinates me and I would like to work in Bangalore.’

He nodded and asked, ‘So, how was your summer training? Who was your supervisor?’

‘Mr. R. Vidyasagar. It was a wonderful experience.’

‘Great. Tell me the top three things you picked up from Wipro during your summer job.’

‘Wipro has a good culture where people from different levels can freely interact with each other. I also noticed that the company operates as functional units and is growing rapidly. I was very impressed with the emphasis given to MBA summer training and the way interns are treated.’

‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘we place a lot of emphasis on the MBA talent management programme. I believe that is core to the future of the company and we invite MBAs from top B-schools to join us every year and I try meeting as many campus recruits as possible.’

I liked his vision. It was simple. Recruit from campuses, give the recruits direction, nurture their talent and one day they would run one of the various businesses of the company.

He then paused for a moment and asked, ‘I hope you have decided to join us. What do you want to work on? Since you have already done an internship with us, do you have any assignments in mind? Where do you see yourself in a few years from now?’

I replied, ‘Sir, as I said, I am keen on joining Wipro,’ and, like a typical B-school rookie graduating with a chip on his shoulder, I added, ‘I want to work on strategic assignments like increasing the span of control, restructuring, implementing stock program, etc.’ Since I didn’t know what to say to his last question, I simply said, ‘I am interested in growth, sir, and would like job rotation across functions.’

He listened to me and said, ‘Good, you have plans. My advice would be to dirty your hands, get to know how things work and then get into strategic assignments. Group HR in Wipro InfoTech could be a good start.’ He scribbled ‘job-rotation program’ on a small notepad, smiled at me and said, ‘I look forward to your joining Wipro. Good luck with the rest of your assignments as you complete your course.’

I thanked him profusely for sparing his time and he left.

After the meeting, I was completely sold on Wipro and signed up to join. I conveyed my decision to my parents. My mother was delighted, and with tears in her eyes she told me she was proud of me. Then I spoke to my dad. He said, ‘Good. I am happy for you. Salary is not that important. Learn as much as you can. It is good that the CEO of the company is spending time with you before you join. Shows how much importance he is giving to MBA talent. Good luck.’

I was young and had an open mind. I joined Wipro InfoTech in Group HR and did everything from working on statutory returns, cleaning up provident-fund records to running training co-ordination and culling group-MIS reports before starting work on strategic assignments on restructuring, business plans and stock program. Within eighteen months, I was promoted on the fast-track programme and was ‘job rotated’ to sales. Azim Premji initiated the job-rotation programme at Wipro to create a pool of cross-functional leaders. I assume he hadn’t forgotten our conversation about job rotation.

It is imperative to build a pool of leaders as soon as possible, else businesses run dry of talent when critical positions have to be filled. There are two ways to accomplish this—either build talent internally or recruit externally. The first approach is considered better because it gives the flexibility of long-term commitment and builds a pool of people aligned to a certain culture.

Based on this premise, we once did a simulation (see following table) of building internal leadership capabilities. Assume a company went to a campus and recruited twenty MBAs every year for seven consecutive years. Now assume that the attrition rate is 12.5 per cent per annum and assume that another 12.5 per cent MBAs don’t make the cut on potential. The latter is a conservative estimate. In my view, almost 40–50 per cent of the MBAs don’t make the cut by the time they are ready to take senior management positions. There are several reasons for that and too many factors come into play. Graduating from a premier B-school is different from actually succeeding in the corporate world. Some people do not develop the profile or the personality required for senior management roles and eventually plateau. So, based on our estimates, companies typically tend to lose 25 per cent of the MBAs recruited every year. Now let us extrapolate this percentage linearly year on year.

As per the above estimation, at the end of fifteen years the company will be left with seven MBAs with potential in the seven to nine years of experience-range to choose from. Further, the company may probably be left with one MBA from the first batch on completing the first ten years since the inception of the programme. The distribution curve flattens out with the number of years. Thus, it is imperative for progressive companies to have a strong and consistent campus programme, else the talent pool will shrink. To keep pace with growth, the year-on-year percentage increase of MBAs to be recruited from campuses should go up by a minimum of 12.5 per cent, if not more.

Assumption: 12.5 per cent attrition is assumed and another 12.5 per cent don’t display potential. Linear extrapolation is shown in the table above.

Recruiting externally is often a long and difficult process and orientation to the company’s performance culture takes years. And even after the selection process, MBAs have to be honed on leadership competencies in order to derive long-term value. Companies introduce leadership development programmes, mentor people and reward them with enriching global assignments. Some companies have the foresight to create a pool of general management leaders and introduce job-rotation programmes where employees spend a couple of years or more across each of the departments—HR, sales, finance, delivery, production and marketing. A job-rotation programme builds diversity of experience and often generalist leaders are considered for senior management roles and, at times, are even chosen to be CEOs. In my opinion if anybody gets an opportunity to be job rotated, they must take it up and learn a new function.

Every CEO ought to have two strategic imperatives on his agenda—creating a successful campus-recruitment programme and developing leadership skills. These two initiatives define capacity and capability to execute in the future. People like Azim Premji understood this concept almost two decades back and have been paying due attention to attract and develop the best talent from within. It is best to attract people at the entry level and give them an enriching environment to grow with. That is how stable and professional organizations are created.

7

Outbound Centre

MindTree was launched in early August 1999. Within a few weeks, my dear friend Babuji Abraham was seated in the conference room with several other engineers, confidently saying, ‘We are from Verifone and would like to join MindTree. What are the terms?’ They were a wonderful bunch of people; offers were extended to all of them and they accepted to join.

Babuji’s parents had named him after Mahatma Gandhi, but unlike the Mahatma who fasted and spoke very little, Babuji could do neither. However, this turned out to be his strength, as he became the ‘voice of the young MindTree’. If a policy issue was being left out, the management would say, ‘Do it before Babuji asks for it.’ Sounds Gabbar-esque, but that was true. Babuji wasn’t arrogant or stubborn; he was a passionate man, completely focused on the company’s well-being.

R.K. Veeraraghavan is another champion. If Babuji’s dialogue had a high-pitched twang, Veera pitched high with his practical approach to getting things done. Veera is a stalwart who joined from Wipro and knows delivery management inside out. His charm lies in putting things across vociferously with a boyish smile. A combination of Babuji and Veera was lethal and both of them stood for employee well-being.

One day both came up to me and said, ‘Mama (that is how Babuji addresses me and I have no option but to accept), what is happening about the employee-orientation programme?’ In most companies existing people assimilate new people. However in MindTree’s case, since it was a start-up, hardly any system was in place and most people were new. ‘How do we assimilate and bond?’ This topic became as hot as a India–Pakistan cricket match. Everybody jumped in with suggestions. Subroto Bagchi, who is regarded as the panacea for all such ailments, took it upon himself to address the issue.

‘Prasad, let us drive to Pegasus this Saturday,’ said Subroto.

There is a method to the madness. Long drives meant bonding, communication and a sense of camaraderie. A four-hour drive with the senior management gives junior employees a chance to exchange information and get to know what the management thinks. I strongly believe that once in six months (at least) the senior management and their direct reports should go on a short road-trip together. Life changes so much after that. One doesn’t need a separate communication session; the flow of information is automatic.

So, on Saturday morning, Subroto and I drove down to the Pegasus Institute for Excellence, located 45 km from Bangalore. Captain Ravi founded the institute after he left the defence services. His concept was simple: ‘Make people experience leadership, managerial and conflicting situations in an outbound programme, combine it with sessions on teamwork, throw in some fun and people will get the experience of a lifetime.’

The training centre is simple, open, airy and functional. It has a nice cafeteria that serves hygienic meals. Tent accommodations for those who want to experience a camp environment and functional brick cottages for those who prefer a little privacy are available. Although the ambience is like an ethnic resort, Captain Ravi and his staff, most of whom are ex-defence personnel, make sure that it is run like an institute. Alcohol is not allowed on the premises. Ravi says, ‘So what if this is an outbound campus? We don’t drink in campus classrooms and conference halls, do we? This is an institute for experiential learning and we don’t allow alcohol.’

Captain Ravi had a clear vision. There were no decent, affordable outbound training centres in the vicinity of Bangalore and he wanted to provide one. When he was purchasing the twelve acres the centre now sits on, there was huge resistance from the local population, but he persisted.

‘I didn’t want to involve outsiders to make our campus; we wanted the villagers to be part of it. We wanted to create employment. Yes, I understand it is difficult to work with villagers and make them learn from the basics, but where is the fun if there are no challenges?’ he says.

Captain Ravi and his team began with teaching the villagers the basics—hygiene, how to dress, to speak English and manage their earnings.

‘They were new to the concept of employment and salaries. Money was flowing in every month into their pockets and we didn’t want them to get into bad habits. So, we taught them money management, how to open bank accounts, how to save and how to spend.’

Today, as they experience a new, more successful life, the villagers swear by Captain Ravi and his institute.

When I met Captain Ravi, I couldn’t see the soul behind what he had created and the benefits it would deliver. I was probably tactical and spent time focusing on developing content and I remember screwing up a few programmes. But Subroto realized the potential and initiated a series of workshops. Teams of twenty-five to thirty MindTree employees were sent to spend a couple of days at the institute and leaders were mandated to spend time with the new teams. In all, probably thirty such workshops were conducted. The workshops aimed at creating bonds, developing leadership and explaining what the company stood for.

Captain Ravi and his colleague Dr Mamta Kapoor were the key facilitators for most of the sessions. The outbound programmes had a variety of activities and were physically intensive at times. The night trek, rock climbing, rappelling and raft making provided the participants with a unique learning experience that engendered trust among the participants. Sometimes army techniques were used to solve problems. It was a world-class idea of reliving NCC days in an outdoor setting, away from the office, and people loved the concept. I believe it was one of the best people initiatives ever undertaken. Even people from international locations came and participated in these programmes. The first seven hundred and fifty to a thousand people bonded extremely well, thus forming and strengthening the core of the company.

I remember Rostow Ravanan, CFO at MindTree, backing this programme to the hilt. He said, ‘This is the best that could happen to us. We get thirty people oriented every weekend at the most reasonable cost, it is a great investment.’

Captain Ravi’s vision can be summarized in simple terms:

- The combination of an NCC-inspired workout regimen, army techniques, a simple setup with great service orientation and innovative programming in an outbound context results in experiential learning on leadership, managerial and teaming skills.

- A professional setup, faculty, content, program management and consistency in delivery results are the hallmark of an institute for excellence.

- Keeping the processes simple and costs reasonable as well as focusing on value and learning will attract corporate customers.

- Bringing together a team of people who believe in the idea, are passionate and can execute to perfection creates a professional outlook. In fact, Captain Ravi always says, ‘I am just a facilitator. It is the faculty and staff who make the difference.’ This is not plain rhetoric; it is evident in his interaction with his team. The team runs on its own steam and is fully empowered to take independent decisions.

I call this the ICE (Idea-Competence-Execute) Model. If you have an idea, back it with your competence and execute to perfection—you will have a flourishing business. Even if the concept looks over-simplified, it will still succeed. In fact, it might even work better.

Today, almost every decent-sized company in Bangalore sends its employees to Pegasus. Captain Ravi is emotional, simple, inspirational and a visionary in his own way. I believe he is a great businessman, though in all modesty he professes to be naïve in matters of business. He has established centres of excellence in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Noida and Chennai, and heads a huge faculty and service staff who are steering Pegasus towards new frontiers.

8

Mallasamudram to Minneapolis

Dr Sridhar Mitta is the founder of NextWealth, an organization that works towards ‘social uplift through entrepreneurship’. Wipro InfoTech’s first employee, Dr Mitta was instrumental in setting up the first offshore office for the company.

In the early nineties, offshoring became popular and global MNCs partnered with Indian IT companies to leverage the cost arbitrage model. In the next phase, Indian IT companies innovated and besides cost arbitrage, began offering process excellence. Soon companies like GE realized the knowledge potential and set up the Jack Welch Research Center. India had become a technology hub and a global destination for BPO and IT services. Within the next couple of decades, Indian companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys made a quantum leap in revenues by crossing the $5 billion mark. Companies like CISCO, IBM, Accenture, EDS, CSC and Capgemini set up shop in India and started recruiting in large numbers. The cost per hour (inclusive of infrastructure) hovered between $8 and $14 and gave them 1:5 leverage; for every person recruited in the US, the companies could recruit five people of equal calibre in India. The companies were able to save on capital and services expenditure while getting more work done.

With increasing requirements, the demand for people with IT skills soared. Talented professionals started getting multiple job offers and as job-hopping became the norm, the average rate of attrition crossed the 20-per cent mark during peak years. To contend against this, companies started giving average compensation increase of almost 12–15 per cent every year. To attract new talent, companies began offering an additional 20–25-per cent jump on salary. A software engineer who started his career at say Rs 2.5 lakh per annum could potentially double his salary in three years. However, in the last five to seven years, because of significant changes in salary structures, the wage gap between employees in the US and India has decreased, especially for mid-and senior-levels and specialized positions. A senior program director makes an all-inclusive salary of almost $85,000 to $1,00,000 in India; the cost arbitrage has shrunk and the pressure on margins has increased. Companies are now stretching the bottom of the pyramid; increasing the span of control (number of people reporting per manager); offering fancy titles and employees with just four to six years’ experience are becoming people managers. In the last few years, MNCs have been moving to and creating IT hubs in other low-cost destinations like Manila, Bucharest, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, China etc. With more than 50 per cent attrition and rising costs, even the BPO and services sector has gone through rough times.

Dr Mitta says, ‘The traditional offshoring and outsourcing model is changing and is akin to the old mainframe model. At the current rate, cost arbitrage as a value proposition will diminish. We have to contain costs, else software jobs will move to other low-cost destinations outside India. Urban IT centres are creating chaos in the environment and cities are bursting at their seams. Traffic woes have increased and the quality of life has deteriorated. That is when we conceptualized NextWealth to leverage the rural segment as a viable alternative low-cost model and improve the quality of life of people by providing entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.

The NextWealth model is unique and could herald a new wave of outsourcing and offshoring.

- NextWealth identifies clients in need of long-term services and engages rural entrepreneurs to help deliver services from rural centres using local graduates at the lowest optimal cost, thus acting as a bridge between the customer and rural entrepreneur.

- NextWealth intends to set up all its development centres in rural areas to reduce pollution and traffic congestion, thereby improving the overall quality of life. In each of the centres, there will be no more than 250–300 people. Dr Mitta says, ‘We could have taken the centres to 500 people or more, but again that will be an unsustainable model from the perspective of infrastructure, cost, transportation and availability of skilled people. We would like to set up about forty such centres, each with 250 people, totalling 10,000 people.’ The capital expenditure for setting up a centre is almost Rs 50 lakh and banks are willing to fund some of these centres. NextWealth retains a 26 per cent stake in each of these rural entrepreneur-driven centres.

- While looking for rural entrepreneurs to run the delivery centres, the NextWealth team looks at people who are second-generation entrepreneurs and people who have worked in the corporate world.

- The rural development centre recruits graduates from local campuses at an average compensation of Rs 7000 to Rs 10,000 per month. The cost works out to less than $400 per month per person, roughly $2 an hour. This is probably one-third or one-fourth the cost incurred by a software firm in Bangalore. That means the cost arbitrage leverage could be as high as 1:8 or even 1:10.

- Mythily Ramesh, CEO of NextWealth, focuses her efforts in reviewing customer engagement and delivery-service-level agreements. The team has created performance dashboards and measures to deliver consistent quality to customers.

- While ‘social uplift’ is the major objective, there is a profit model in place to sustain operations in the long run. The five-year plan for NextWealth is to create 10,000 jobs and, in doing so, generate revenues of Rs 140 crore and EBIDTA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) of 12 per cent. As part of phase one, Dr Mitta and his team are sourcing projects from captives and MNCs within Bangalore.

Anand Talwai, executive director of NextWealth, says, ‘There are about 500–600 engineering colleges in each of the four southern states in India. Of these, roughly 60 per cent are located in rural areas. Among the students who enrol in rural colleges 50 per cent are girls, less than 2 per cent of who move to urban areas on completing their engineering. There is huge untapped potential out there and we want to focus our efforts in creating employment for rural graduates.’

NextWealth has employed about 110 rural graduate students for its client, TutorVista, an educational platform, in their development centre in Mallasamudram, near Salem. TutorVista pays NextWealth Rs 18,000–20,000 per month per graduate and graduates in turn get paid salaries ranging from Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 per month. Profits generated are ploughed back into the operations to tide over bench and non-billable time. Using the TutorVista chat platform women engineering graduates from Mallasamudram teach mathematics to American children in the K-12 grade in Minneapolis. Apparently the feedback-based performance metrics indicate that the female engineering graduates from Mallasamudram are better teachers than their urban counterparts. That is a huge win for the model.

For NextWealth, the projects being sourced are workable and opportunity-based. Dr Mitta and his team carefully choose opportunities based on delivery and available skill-sets. Current projects focus on content monetization, technical support, chat-based support, digital-image applications and engineering services.

He says, ‘NextWealth’s objective is bringing about social uplift by creating jobs and by tapping into existing potential. For example, the project with Yahoo! on content monetization is entirely done by speech- and hearing-impaired graduates. That is a new avenue of employment that we could create. However, there should be some profit motto, else sustaining operations in the long run becomes a problem.’

I asked Dr Mitta, ‘Sir, why NextWealth now?’

‘Every person goes through three stages in life. The first stage is financial security, the second is recognition and the third one is self-actualization, where you want to give something back to society. Fortunately, I am financially secure, and I got more recognition than I deserved. Now it is my time to give back to society. Anand and I don’t take salaries and whatever money we make is ploughed back into the operations,’ he replied.

The model spawns entrepreneurship, creates employment in the rural segment and helps companies reduce the cost of delivery. Most entrepreneurs I talked to recently have been focusing their efforts on leveraging the untapped potential of tier-two towns where they can find talented workers with a smaller investment in infrastructure. The emerging business model is all about harnessing the power of intellectual capital in the heartland of India. If the first phase of offshoring created the large urban centres, then the second wave could be the distributed model where delivery of services happens from tier-two towns.

9

Each Step in the Right Direction

Umesh Malhotra was in his third year of engineering at IIT, Chennai, when his father took him to their auto-bulb manufacturing unit and said, ‘Son, I am glad you are going to be an engineer soon. When you graduate you can run this unit.’ Umesh looked around for a moment and replied, ‘Dad, I can’t imagine myself doing this for the rest of my life. I am sorry.’ His father didn’t say anything.

After he graduated in 1990, Umesh joined Infosys where he worked for nine long years. Umesh says, ‘I had a great time at Infy. I was the business manager responsible for a P&L and I was managing the “payment gateway” vertical, with revenues close to US$5 million. That was 5 per cent of Infosys’ total revenues when Infy was worth $100 million in 1999. In ten years Infy grew from $100 million to upwards of $5 billion. The company rode an upswing curve and the leadership was fantastic. I was part of Narayana Murthy’s top 100 chairman’s club, but I was really keen to do something on my own, so I resigned. Narayana Murthy called me and asked if there was something he could do to retain me. When I told him I had stopped having fun and wanted to venture out on my own, he said, “In which case, I won’t try to stop you. Work in Infosys till you have a clear idea of what you want to do and acquire the funds for it. Once you finalize everything, come to me and we will talk and don’t hesitate to ask me if you need any help.” ’

Umesh liked what Murthy said and worked for another nine months while his plans materialized. After he left Infy, along with two of his close friends, he set up Bangalore Labs, a remote network management company, which was the first to offer managed services in the country, in November 1999, and sold it to Planet One Pvt. Ltd in 2002. Umesh didn’t know what to do next. The only thing he knew was that he did not want to get back into the IT industry. ‘IT somehow didn’t interest me anymore. I wanted to do something different and I was looking for the right kind of thing to do.’

Meanwhile, his wife Vimala had started putting together a children’s library in a 5600 sq. ft plot in Koramangala. Umesh slowly began helping her till he was completely absorbed in the project. Together they established Hippocampus Children’s Company Pvt. Ltd and started the Hippocampus Library for children. The library was cash-positive from day one, with flexible rates starting from Rs 1300 for a six-month membership to Rs 10,200 for two years with access to a multimedia kit, and scores of people joined Hippocampus.

Umesh says, ‘We spent about Rs 22 lakh on designing and constructing the building and about Rs 14 lakh buying 6000 children’s books. We were probably one of the few libraries in India who purchased expensive children’s books such as “Arthurs” and “Kailus”. Our total expenditure was Rs 36 lakh and it started yielding an average profit of almost Rs 3 lakh per annum. Hippocampus Library has 2700 members, of whom 1300 are active. Vimala always felt that we shouldn’t advertise and we didn’t. People don’t come to a library because they saw an advertisement. They come because they want their children to pick up the reading habit and learn. Parents walk into our library, they like what we do and they tell their friends, and the friends turn up to become members. It is all word of mouth.’

Hippocampus has done some interesting things to keep the place going. It is open and airy and is not crammed with books. The place doesn’t intimidate children. Games and activities in the library enable children to interact with each other. It is more of an ‘experience centre’, than a library. Umesh and Vimala had several offers to franchise the Hippo brand, but they declined. They said, ‘Go and create your own libraries. Why do you want to pay us royalties? If you need help, we are available.’

In the last five years, the Hippocampus Library has earned about Rs 15–18 lakh in profit and donated the profits to the Hippo Reading Foundation, an NGO that helped create about 165 reading libraries for the poor and needy in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

‘These 165 libraries are typically part of local village government schools and are funded by the school or by the local NGOs. All we do is help set up and sustain them.’

The Hippocampus staff is a group of amazing men and women who are dedicated to their work. When recruiting, Umesh and Vimala look for five things: Can they smile? Are they patient? Do they love children? Do they like books? Are they curious? If they qualify on these primary counts, then the rest of the process becomes easy.

Umesh and Vimala are currently working with two villages in the Chitradurga district in Karnataka to create libraries for the poor. The local government primary school teacher is the librarian and she has invested Rs 5000 towards procuring books. Thus far forty children have enrolled in the library and they pay Rs 10 per month. The library makes Rs 400 every month and almost breaks even at the end of the year. The costs have to be kept minimal, otherwise it cannot be sustained. Most of the children who use the libraries are first-generation readers; their parents have never been to school, so they cannot read books to their children. It thus falls on the library to ensure that the books available are ones a child will be able to read, understand and enjoy. The Hippo Foundation colour codes the books into six levels, starting with green, for the simplest, to yellow, which are more complex. This makes it easier for children to choose books. Besides colour-coding, Hippocampus organizes activities for children around the library. For example, if a child picks up a book on animals, he or she is given chart paper to make a mask shaped like a lion’s face at the end of the session.

Umesh says, ‘Setting up libraries is easy; it is the usage which poses the real challenge. We have now devised methods that can help improve usage. We bring project plans, reviews, activities, book selection, place, design, guests and storytellers to generate the right experience. In libraries that we set up near slums, we turn the library into a homework centre in the evening where our facilitators help the children with their work. To make sure libraries are a fun place, we have to create the “right experience”. It should be a well-designed place with bright colours and lights, where children can feel comfortable and happy. We’ve noticed that it always works well when one of the schoolteachers becomes the librarian—the children aren’t intimidated. It is also important to provide a mix of books and games and activities that will challenge and entertain the children.’

Umesh has been able to do all this because he has sustainable cash flows from Hippocampus Library. Neither he nor his family draw finances from the library or the foundation. Umesh has started two restaurants in Bangalore called Oye Amritsar. These restaurants are run by professional managers and have generated employment for about 110 people. He recently purchased a farmhouse where the caretaker is breeding ten dogs. An average day is spent meeting with storytellers, musicians, puppet-makers, book-readers, multimedia people, his staff and vendors, and taking care of his multiple ventures.

With so much going on, I wondered how Umesh found time to relax and pursue his interests (when I went to see him he was peacefully reading a newspaper in the afternoon sun!). I got my answer when I briefly interacted with his people. All of them felt empowered; they ran the place as if it was their own. That is why Umesh seemed to have all the free time in the world. Hire the right people, share your vision with them, give them direction, empower them and the results will automatically follow.

Interacting with Umesh taught me that vision need not always guide the next steps. Each step in the right direction can culminate in the right vision.

10

Realizing Potential and Making Dreams Come True

Satya Narayanan is the founder and chairman of Career Launcher, a premier player in the education and test-prep market in India, with revenues around Rs 150 crore and 1,10,000 enrollments. Satya finished his PGDM from IIM, Bangalore, and in June 1993 joined Ranbaxy as a marketing executive. In April 1994 he met Professor K.K. Mehta, a behavioural scientist, and the two got talking about group discussions and interview-training programmes for CAT aspirants. By August 1994 Satya began visiting hostels in the evening to interact with students who were preparing for their MBAs, specifically IIM aspirants. He approached the Students Amenities Centre at IIT, Delhi, the Kautilya Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and the students of Delhi College of Engineering.

Satya says, ‘The societies ran like cost centres. Students paid the society for taking the mock tests and societies asked an external examiner to prepare the test material. I saw an opportunity here. I approached the student bodies and said that in exchange for a list of the students taking the test, I would conduct a mock CAT free of cost and students from all Delhi colleges were welcome to take it. The student bodies agreed and I spent the next several weeks coordinating with various student bodies, preparing question papers and managing logistics. For the first time in Delhi a mock CAT was held at SRCC on 20 November 1994. Students paid a nominal fee of Rs 75 to the student body for organizing the test. Based on the results of the test I contacted the top twenty students who I thought would get call letters from IIMs and told them as much. Within one month news of the mock CAT spread and I started receiving my first customer calls. I offered to conduct a Personality Development Program (PDP) and coach the students on interview skills, group discussions and writing skills. I asked students to pay Rs 1250 for the “planned” PDP comprising twelve classes to be held in the evenings.’

Satya’s proposal was received with a certain amount of scepticism as people wondered how he would change their personality in just three months. He explained that the course was not meant to change their personality, rather to introduce them to concepts and tools that could prepare them for interviews and group discussions.

Satya says, ‘Thirty-four students enrolled with me, I was elated; it felt like a huge accomplishment. When I started my coaching classes, I asked some of my friends from Ranbaxy and my IIM batch to help conduct interviews. In retrospect I am thankful that they helped me. Around that time, the students who I had predicted would receive call letters did and they asked to join the PDP. So, I started a new programme called “Crash PDP”, a two-week intensive programme. Ironically, I charged these students less than those who were in my “planned PDP”; so much for my entrepreneurship! An additional forty students enrolled in the crash course. I had seventy-four students in total and made Rs 95,000 in my first year. I knew this was it … I had to quit Ranbaxy. I left them in June 1995 and started Career Launcher.’

At the time Satya started Career Launcher, he felt coaching for the written test was a crowded market and it was best to continue with and building the PDP.

‘Between 1995 and 1997, we focused only on the PDP with emphasis on IIMs. By 1998, four out of five IIM entrants from Delhi were from Career Launcher. We had arrived. In 1997, Gautam Puri, one of the co-founders, decided to launch written tests, which became a great success. By 1998, 500 students had enrolled and we ended the year with revenues of Rs 48 lakh. By May 1999 Career Launcher started recruiting from premier schools in the country like TISS, SP Jain, the IIMs and XLRI. We introduced Test-Prep courses for BBA, BCA, NIFT, NLS and hotel management. In November 2000, Intel Capital decided to invest in the company and we acquired KITS in Mumbai. Requests for franchises started pouring in and between 2000 and 2005 we nearly doubled our revenues.’

In 2005, Gaja Capital infused $15 million into Career Launcher when it bought out Intel Capital’s stake. One of the key objectives of capital infusion was scaling the size of the business. Satya and his team embarked on several business models. One of them was investing in various start-ups in the education segment; since 2005, Career Launcher has invested about $6 million in various start-ups in the education segment. The company expanded its footprint to include the Ananda Preparatory School for Children, Indus World School for children upto K-12, Indus World School of Business focusing on entrepreneurial education, vocational-skills training and test prep for almost every professional course in the country.

Satya says, ‘Indus World University is on the anvil. We currently teach about 1,10,000 students across about 250 centres in the country. We have a small presence in the US and have to scale it up. We were able to grow quickly because of our franchisee model. Nearly 80 per cent of our test prep centres are owned by franchisees. We deliver content, methodology, tools, processes and plans. Franchisees do a great quality job of execution. Revenues are shared in a 3:1 ratio. We encourage this model because we can take education to India. Career Launcher has 500 people on its rolls and about 600 people on franchisee rolls. We believe that scaling is achieved when partners are empowered.’

Career Launcher has also tied up with Shriram Properties to establish twenty-five Indus World Schools across the country. As of now, twenty schools, mostly in tier-two towns, are operational, with 3000 students. Shriram sets up the infrastructure and Indus delivers the education.

Satya adds, ‘We also tied up with twenty-two industrial training institutes (ITIs) and now train about 25,000 people in vocational skills. It is one of the largest public-private-partnership (PPP) initiatives in the country today. Though the test-prep business with about 75,000 enrollments is in the forefront right now, the vocational-trade business is growing three times faster and will soon overtake the test-prep business. The other day I met a student who had graduated from one of our ITIs. Before he came to the institute he was an assistant to a vegetable vendor and was making Rs 15 a day. He told me he had been offered a salary of Rs 3500 per month by Hindustan Lever to sell water purifiers. Imagine what a transformation it is for the student and his family. That is why I feel that teaching people vocational skills is about building families.’

Satya comes from a middle-class background. His father worked in the Post and Telegraph Department as a class-IV employee. By the time he retired after thiry-five years he had made it to the class-II level. Satya says, ‘I come from a regular Indian middle-class family with a simple outlook on life and I am still the same. My people feel that I am accessible and approachable; I don’t know how to be otherwise. I love teaching and being with students. I want to do my best to make their dreams come true.’

No wonder Career Launcher’s core purpose is ‘to make people realize their potential and make dreams come true’.

Satya dropped out of his twelfth standard board exams to get an extra year playing in the under-19 cricket team. ‘I couldn’t make it beyond that,’ he said regretfully, ‘but fortunately I gatecrashed into IIM.’

Satya and his team intend to make Career Launcher a Rs 500-crore company in the next two years. I asked him, ‘Is that really feasible?’ He laughed and replied, ‘What will happen if we don’t succeed? Nothing, right? But at least we would have dreamt and tried. Our teams know our goal and everybody gives their best.’

Satya’s philosophy is simple and in the last fifteen years he has learnt some very important lessons:

- Our product is ‘learning’. Showing the value that we bring to the table is the most important part. I never charge my students when I am not convinced about the value of what we provide. Once I am convinced, I have no hassle in charging.

- Every now and then, we—the senior management—have to reinvent ourselves. And when we do that our company changes, because strategic decision-making is always at the helm. It is important to reinvent and reinvigorate.

- If you are an entrepreneur, build teams of exceptional people around you. Fortunately Career Launcher has excellent talent at the senior level. All of them know their strengths and leverage it. We succeeded because of our people.

- Learn to appreciate people. Each person learns differently, performs differently. Don’t write off people for their weaknesses.

- Focus on people’s strengths and leverage them to their maximum potential. Enjoy what you are capable of doing.

- Expect people to be professional. Expect people to come on time, be prepared and be diligent. Be quick to show appreciation and give feedback. That is how you build a high-performance culture.

- Don’t ever destroy the self-confidence of a student. There is no point in harping about their weaknesses. When we mentally prepare students for exams or for interviews, we focus their minds to expand on their strengths. In the final preparatory days we avoid discussing weaknesses. We build mental strength and that gives them the confidence to excel.

The most difficult part in the ‘vocational-education business’ is convincing people that it is going to make a difference to their lives. Once people are convinced, enrollments increase by word of mouth. The biggest challenge though lies in the first three years.

I have been personally involved in establishing Dayalbagh Educational Institute’s (Deemed University) ICT Centre at Bangalore, where we are trying to convince people in the lowest economic strata to enrol for vocational courses by paying Rs 3000 per annum. People seem to be interested and the primary question on everybody’s mind is, ‘If I do the course, would I get a well paying job?’. I guess at the entry level, people enrol only to make a living. Courses that focus on helping people eke a livelihood are going to make a difference to the community at large. No wonder vocational courses are the fastest-growing in India; surprisingly only 2 per cent of youth get trained in vocational courses in contrast to 80–90 per cent in USA, Europe and Japan!

11

Technology for Self-Help Groups

Rajiv Chandrakant Mody is the executive chairman of the Sasken Board, MD of Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd, and one of the founders of the company. With over twenty-two years of experience in the technology business, Rajiv’s approach to running a company is hands-on and simple. He says, ‘It is best to keep your head to the ground and work hard. That is the only way to succeed. There is no point in playing to the galleries, people will see through it.’

From his past experience, he has learnt:

- Once you start doing something, don’t get so absorbed in the task at hand that you miss the other opportunities unfolding on the periphery.

- In business you don’t know much and you won’t know much either. Encourage your team to explore and when they make mistakes, give them a chance to succeed. If they succeed, learn from the experience and push them to greater heights.

- Technology is a big leveller. If used wisely, it can make a substantial difference to society at the grass-roots level and can give people an identity.

Sasken manages the Nokia Life Tools initiative that was launched in December 2008, targeting the farmer and student communities. Life Tools offers farmers information related to agriculture, commodity prices and the weather forecast, and language awareness to students. If a user knows 700 specific keywords of a language, then he or she can start conversing in that language. The services are available for a monthly rental fee of Rs 30 to Rs 60 per user.

In 1999, the Government of India had launched the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana programme for self-employment of the rural poor. The objective was to provide them with income-generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy. A typical self-help group (SHG) usually consists of ten to fifteen people below the poverty line and gets a subsidy of about 50 per cent of the project cost. India has approximately 2.5 million SHGs that engage about 40 million people who make wonderful products like coir mats, honey, greeting cards and other handmade products. Unfortunately they have very little understanding of how to run a business and are exploited by intermediaries who buy the products at minimal prices and sell them in urban and international markets at great margins.

Sasken understood this problem and in mid-2008, Rajiv set up a team consisting of Dr G. Venkatesh, chief technology and strategy officer and S.R. Raja, general manager, strategy portfolio and business development, to look at opportunities at the community level and harness the power of technology. They decided to work with SHGs under the aegis of the e-vyapaarSEWA initiative launched by the district administration of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. For the next ten months, the team researched the use of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based solution to enable SHGs in Kanyakumari to market their products effectively. The study indicated that it is possible to break the buyer monopoly by implementing an ICT platform that connects SHGs directly to potential buyers. Select SHGs witnessed an increase in sales, revenue and margins during the trial period. The government of Tamil Nadu felt that ICT and mobile-phone technology could change the livelihood of the women SHGs.

Raja says, ‘Women SHGs are the lowest economically sustainable strata. They make wonderful products but are stuck with manipulative intermediaries with limited access to consumers and markets. Initially, we thought of helping these women SHGs by connecting them directly with end-customers and launched the pilot voice project. A preliminary list of eighty SHGs with about hundred products was enabled in the system. Speech recognition technology was used, digital voice lines were obtained from BSNL and Sasken housed a server with appropriate software applications. With this infrastructure SHGs started interacting directly with end-customers. The project helped a few groups, but we realized that the model was not scalable. Buyers and consumers found it difficult to interact with SHGs directly because of language barriers and the groups didn’t know how to provide the sales experience. They didn’t understand how to sell, package, label, ship, market, raise invoices, get paid, etc. Then the idea of a business-to-business (B2B) model emerged and we contemplated connecting SHGs directly over the mobile platform with the service providers and the customers.’

Sasken’s B2B platform will help SHGs connect with other players in the system. They will have access to banks, telecom providers, logistics companies and transporters, raw material suppliers, etc. This platform will help establish fair-trade principles, evaluate right price mechanisms and help generate the right margins for the SHGs.

Dr Venkatesh says, ‘While profit is a motive for creating the B2B platform, the real objective is to maximize profit in the hands of the SHGs and help distribution of wealth between the groups. We will encourage SHGs to use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) modules that will be loaded on mobile phones to connect with suppliers, transporters and end-customers. Also, the government is federating the SHGs. For example, all SHGs that produce honey fall into one category, and those that focus on packaging are clubbed under one unit. Once SHGs have been federated, they can start helping each other. For example, a group that specializes in packaging can help ones that manufacture honey. With greater access, SHGs can approach banks for subsidies and short-term loans. So the ecosystem will encourage the groups to work together and sell the produce. I think rural India will leapfrog the Internet generation and directly dive into mobile technology to address their livelihood needs. In Tamil Nadu alone there are thirteen districts and each district has about 15,000 SHGs. From a B2B-platform perspective, the numbers are staggering.’

Sasken’s intention to create a mobile ERP platform to connect SHGs with a partner ecosystem is fantastic. Once the platform has been built, the challenge will be to make people use it effectively. Sasken needs to establish partnerships with rural players who would be willing to pay for platform services. Though marketing the idea and leading the overall social transformation at the grass-roots level is not an easy proposition, Sasken’s initial pilot shows promise. For example, the Annai SHG harvested 550 kg of honey and this initiative has helped sell 45 kg within the first forty days. Similarly, an SHG that makes handmade greeting cards sold 1000 greeting cards to US consumers and orders for thousands more are pouring in.

Telecommunication companies and banks are more than happy to partner with Sasken because a technology platform of this nature brings transparency to the system and helps them reach people at the economic-entry level of society. Internet companies are also happy to tie up with the initiative because it will give global consumers access to India’s rural products, which fetch great margins in the international markets.

Rajiv Mody says, ‘Our foray with the VyapaarSEWA initiative is in the initial stages. We hope to productize the model in due course and start implementing it at the grass-roots level. We are passionate about what we are doing because it is gradually bringing people above the poverty line and helping us deploy our technology in the rural segment.’

If the platform is successful, it could spawn new streams of revenue for Sasken in the B2B-technology space. I see a transformation happening. Most CEOs and industry stalwarts I interact with are looking at solutions for the rural segment and opportunities to tap into the bottom of the pyramid. I think the next big wave of progress will come from villages and the tier-two towns of India. Technology, education and growth are out there.

On 7 March 2011 (a day before International Women’s Day), President Pratibha Patil launched Sanchar Shakti, (Sasken-led VyapaarSewa™ initiative) as part of Department of Telecommunications’ (DOT) pilot project for mobile value-added services (VAS) and ICT-related livelihood skills for women’s SHGs. She said, ‘… it is generally recognized that when people have access to information about their livelihoods, or about issues impacting their lives, it can strengthen their decision-making capabilities and their ability to manage their lives … especially VAS provides a variety of information to women about health, social issues and also livelihood-related inputs … rural women will thus become both users and enablers of ICT services …’

12

Participatory Democracy

Yale University graduate Ramesh Ramanathan and his wife Swati Ramanathan, who studied at the Pratt Institute, New York, quit their lucrative jobs at Citibank and Van Summern Architecture respectively, and decided to co-found Janaagraha, an NGO, in 2001 with the aim of improving the quality of life in urban India.

Ramesh and Swati were inspired by the ‘participatory budgeting’ process and wanted to incorporate a similar approach in Bangalore. In participatory budgeting, citizens deliberate to decide upon the allocation of a part of the municipal budget. The first participatory budgeting method was adopted in 1989 in the city of Porto Alegre, the eleventh-most populous municipality in Brazil. Porto Alegre spends about $200 million on construction and services, and elected representatives of about 50,000 residents participate in the budgeting process. A World Bank study suggests that participatory budgeting has led to a direct improvement in facilities at Porto Alegre. Sewer and water connections increased from 75 per cent of households in 1988 to 98 per cent in 2007 and the number of schools quadrupled since 1989. While the concept is still new in India, participatory budgeting has spread to more than 1200 municipalities across Europe, Africa, North America and other parts of Asia.

Ramesh says, ‘We thought we could introduce participatory budgeting in Bangalore too. We researched and acquired domain knowledge on how ward budgeting worked. We realized that roughly Rs 50 lakh are allocated to each ward for completing neighbourhood civil works, such as road repair and maintenance. There were about 100 wards and the overall available budget was Rs 50 crore. The ward corporators and executive engineers are responsible for budget allocation and for the completion of work. We wanted citizens to participate in the allocation of this budget. We spent six months on preparing the campaign and launched it on 9 December 2001.’

The campaign said, ‘Here are a few fools like Nandan Nilekani, Vishnuwardhan, Dr Devi Shetty and Syed Kirmani who think they can change Bangalore. If you are also a fool, then call us.’ Thousands of callers responded, saying, ‘I am a fool, tell me what to do?’

Once the volunteers arrived, they were shown as part of the orientation a seven-minute film on how the wards worked and how participatory budgeting process could help, after which the Janaagraha team initiated discussions. Initially the volunteers were cynical; they laughed and scoffed at the notion of participatory budgeting. But as Ramesh and his team began explaining the process, slowly but steadily redirecting the cynicism into optimism, people began to look at the positive side. The Janaagraha team explained how ward budgeting and execution worked and groups representing each ward were made. As a first step, the groups were asked to survey their neighbourhood and fill out a field report form. Once the completed form had been submitted, the Janaagraha team took forty-eight hours to churn out the required budget, based on the PWD’s estimated rates. The groups then took the estimated budgets and started approaching the local ward corporators and engineers to have it implemented. Some corporators told them to get lost, others said, ‘Give me your list and I will take care of it’; only a few corporators were happy to talk to the citizens. Eventually few corporators signed off a recommended ward-works sheet, which Ramesh took as a first sign of victory. But for the people in the groups, success lay in their ability to forge a team and work together towards resolving local issues and bettering their city.

Within a few weeks, however, their efforts met with resistance. People thought that Ramesh and Swati were establishing a parallel government. They started getting ‘hate mail’ and one day in their post box there was a letter that said, ‘We know the routes your children take to school.’ This put intense pressure on Ramesh and Swati but it didn’t deter them from pursuing their dream. Ramesh says, ‘All these incidents are expected, especially when you are bringing such a massive change within a system.’

The movement continued to build momentum; 5000 people from sixty-eight wards started working on the ‘ward-works initiative’. The total estimate submitted by the representatives of different wards totalled to a whopping Rs 162 crore, averaging about Rs 92 lakh per ward. However, the available budget was only Rs 50 lakh per ward. Ramesh and his team organized a meeting to discuss pruning the budgets. Unfortunately, this was no easy task. People wanted their priorities to be addressed; some wanted the budget to be allocated according to the size of the street, others suggested the overall development required in each area within a ward be used as a yardstick. After prolonged discussions the citizens reached a consensus and cut down on the work required so it was within the Rs 50-lakh budget. But although the people had their priorities lined up, the corporators were under no obligation to listen or address these issues.

The follow-up was the toughest part. The campaign ran for six months. Wards with larger numbers of active representatives, at least thirty to forty-five people, pushed for discussions with their corporators, whereas wards which had a critical mass of less than five people eventually lost steam. At the end of the six-month campaign only twenty-two wards were active; the remaining forty-odd ward teams had collapsed. The Janaagraha team learnt their first lesson: it is difficult to sustain prolonged citizen-centric activities without critical mass and frequent successes.

Ramesh says, ‘In the “Program of works” published in the municipal budget in May 2002, Rs 10.7 crore was allocated to issues identified by various teams. It constituted almost 22 per cent of the overall budget and that was a great win for all of us. We could persuade the system to change. But the programme fell flat on its face in the second year. The administrative machinery raised the walls of the fortress and things were not moving forward. That is when we talked to Mayor Chandrasekhar. He disagreed with our approach, but not everybody who disagrees is bad. He said, “Take the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act. The government follows it to the word. There is nothing that says there that the corporators should take inputs from citizen teams. So, my suggestion is work on advocacy, work on changing the Act and then you can change the system.” That was an eye-opener for us.’

In a country governed by strong laws, statutes and governance frameworks, it is important to bring about reform for things to fall in place. Janaagraha understood this tenet and started reinventing itself. The ideals and principles of providing a better quality of life to urban India didn’t change, but now the approach included a ‘systems methodology’.

Legally, there was no need for the government to consider the view of smaller groups of citizens in implementing ward works because India follows a representative form of democracy and the corporators, as elected representatives, derived power from the people and took decisions and implemented solutions. The question being asked was, ‘Is Janaagraha advocating the direct form of democracy in which citizen participation becomes mandatory?’ Ramesh was quick to clarify: ‘No, we are not advocating direct democracy, we are advocating “participatory democracy” in which citizens are given the opportunity to contribute to government decision-making in certain specific areas and within a certain framework.’

Let us now look at the administrative structure of India. The Seventy-third Amendment to the Constitution that came into effect on 24 April 2002 provides for devolution of powers and responsibilities to gram panchayats for preparing plans for economic development and social justice. Interestingly, a gram panchayat doesn’t act on its own decisions and has to consult the gram sabha which consists of all the adults in a village and ensures development through participation and mutual cooperation. The gram sabha meets at least twice a year and the annual budget and development schemes of the village are placed before the sabha for consideration and approval. The gram sarpanch, who is an elected representative of the gram panchayat, is responsible for ensuring that the views of the gram sabha are considered and questions are answered. However, although the Seventy-fourth Amendment to the Constitution describes the municipality administrative structure in towns and cities, it does not discuss the role of ‘people representation’.

From the above structure it is evident that there is space for ‘people participation’. Roughly 65 per cent of India’s GDP comes from urban areas which occupy less than 2 per cent of the land mass. Janaagraha’s focus on improving the quality of life in urban India seems to be a valid proposition. Meanwhile on 3 December 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh officially inaugurated the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JN-NURM). Starting 2005–06, the programme is spread over seven years and covers sixty-three cities with a total budget of Rs 1,20,536 crore. The objectives are twofold—development of urban infrastructure and governance, and providing basic services to the urban poor. The programme has twenty-three reform categories of which sixteen fall under the mandatory category and Janaagraha has helped draft two of these. Ramesh Ramanathan now is the national advisor to the Government of India on the JN-NURM programme, policy and implementation.

Although it will take time, Janaagraha is focusing its efforts on bringing a systemic change—an act that mandates people’s representation in addressing municipal budgets. Hopefully, that will change the way municipalities function. Greater transparency and accountability can transform cities and towns into better places to live.

The last ten years have taught Ramesh and Swati some important lessons:

- To accomplish large systemic change, it is important to have some amount of idealism and naiveté.

- One should be genuinely concerned about improving the quality of life. Only then can we achieve progress.

- A ‘systems approach’ helps implement change on a larger scale. Janaagraha follows the REED methodology—regional perspective, empowering the government and citizens, enabling citizens and the government, and direct responsibility.

- It is important to engage the system rather than confront it. When you engage, people will join in your efforts, but when you confront, people will resist you.

- If you are passionate and display a sense of professionalism, people in various government agencies will come forward to help, especially when they see sincerity in your efforts.

- Have an impartial and unbiased approach. Be the change you want to see.

It is not easy to do what Ramesh and Swati are doing—leaving the security of comfortable jobs to turn the wheels of change at the community level. It needs a special mindset. Janaagraha plans to have twenty offices in as many cities in the next few years to work on the charter of urban renewal. Change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and one must be patient.

Theme 2: Perceptive and Derive Creative Solutions

In these stories, people found creative solutions for complex problems. These people know exactly what they want to achieve. They are steadfast in their approach and understand what it takes to succeed. With their keen appreciation of the inner workings of an organization, they establish a culture of innovation and focus on creating significant brand proposition. They build strong relationships with stakeholders, partners and co-workers, and are effective communicators who can influence people and motivate them to discover unorthodox solutions. They have an amazing ability to break down processes into multiple components and to arrive at predictable end-result, they deploy suitable management interventions. They are sensitive to culture, events and to the environment. They can think in images, sounds and symbols. At times, for these people solving a problem and creating innovative solutions is more important than the process itself.

13

Dump Your Leather Wallet

A ten-minute conversation with inventor, entrepreneur and policy-maker, Sam Pitroda, at the New Delhi airport in 2002 changed my perspective on the future of payments using mobile devices. Sam Pitroda is the advisor to the prime minister of India on developing public information infrastructure and innovation. He is credited with establishing the Centre for Development of Telematics, C-DOT, a telecom technology development centre, and for the success of rural telephony in India. He also served as chairman for the National Knowledge Commission during 2005–08 and is the founder and CEO of C-SAM Inc, a company that focuses on improving ease of financial transactions in the electronic and mobile commerce space.

Ashok Soota had just become president of CII in 2002 and we had gone to New Delhi on business. We were walking down the long corridor in the airport to catch the flight back to Bangalore, when we bumped into Sam Pitroda and his colleague.

Sam looked at Ashok, smiled and said, ‘Hi Ashok, congratulations! You have a big job ahead of you.’

Ashok smiled back, shook Sam’s hand and replied, ‘Thank you, Sam. How have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while. This is my colleague Prasad.’

‘Hi Prasad, how are you doing?’ Sam smiled as he shook my hand and then introduced his colleague, Mehul Desai. Once the pleasantries were over, he excitedly said, ‘Hey Ashok, I have something interesting to show you,’ and took out his cellphone. ‘Look at this phone. Today it is used to communicate, manage calendar and store the contacts list. I am working on an idea that will change the way we pay bills and allow us to perform financial transactions through cellphones.’

He then took his leather wallet out of his pocket and said, ‘This wallet is thick with bills, receipts, credit cards, debit cards, bank cards, health cards, store cards, etc. Imagine if all these were in your cellphone. Your phone would have your personal information, encrypted security, a world-class user interface, magnetic strip and smart-card information in it. If you want to make a payment, all you need to do is press a button and the money moves from one box to the other. Let me give you a quick demo.’

He pressed some keys on his phone and launched a demo application. It had a sleek user interface and icons that read ‘Credit Card’, ‘Merchant’, ‘Bank’, etc. ‘This is mobile money, Ashok. The cash moves from one box to the other, no cheques, no deposits and no bills—press a button and the money moves. If you fall short of money, you can pay with your credit card. You can even pay your cellphone bills using this application.’ He typed random names and numbers and clicked buttons and the money moved between different icons. ‘This is going to change the way we all transact in the future. You won’t need this anymore, Ashok,’ Sam waved his wallet and then pointed to his phone. ‘All you need is this, the “digital wallet”. What do you say?’

Ashok replied, ‘Looks fascinating, Sam, I see great potential.’

‘We are developing the technology,’ he said. ‘Mehul is working on it. Is there anything else you’d like to know about this?’ Without waiting for us to reply, Sam continued, ‘Hope all is well with you. How is your venture coming up? Good luck with CII; let me know if you need help. Catch you soon, I am getting late for my flight. Let us talk soon. Bye!’

That was it. In less than ten minutes, Sam had explained his mission in simple and precise terms—what they were doing, how his idea was going to change the world of retail transactions and banking, and benefit customers—and made sure we understood by giving a simple demo. I observed that he did not repeat any of his sentences. No wonder he was able to set up C-DOT and extend telephony to the remotest corner of India.

As soon as I reached home, I read up on Sam’s project. He had patented the ‘Digital Wallet’ in 1996 and was building a billion-dollar business. The ‘OneWallet’ application allowed users to conduct payment transactions in physical, virtual and proximity environments. Today there are about five billion mobile phones in the world. Assuming that even a tenth of these used the ‘OneWallet’ application, it would make an unbelievable impact on the way we conduct transactions.

I think a mission must be that simple; everybody should understand the objectives easily, so that the execution is effortless. People who are innately intuitive can do that comfortably. Gandhiji had a simple mission for pre-independent India—freedom through non-violence. The three words conveyed what he wanted and how he wanted it, and India followed.

Let us look at some interesting mission statements of companies which are doing well. You will notice that all of them are fundamentally simple to understand and communicate.

Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google’s mission is simple; it is about search and information optimization.

Avaya: Provide the world’s best communication solutions that enable businesses to excel. Avaya is a communications company and wants to make it easy for businesses to communicate. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

Anheuser-Busch: Be the world’s beer company. Enrich and entertain a global audience and deliver superior returns to its shareholders. Anheuser-Busch talks about its product, and how it wants to serve its customers and deliver value to its shareholders.

IBM: To lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industry’s most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics. It translates these advanced technologies into value for its customers through professional solutions, services and consulting businesses worldwide.

Microsoft: To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. Microsoft’s mission clearly states that both people and businesses are their customers. If you analyse the mission statement, it does not restrict them to any segment of operation—creating innovative products, services, solutions, education, entertainment, science, and search-related businesses. This is how a span of operations emerges.

Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time. Starbucks is about three things—product personalization, shop experience, and neighbourhood-customer relationships. All these three elements are replicated globally in their coffee stores and every employee of Starbucks is intuitively aware of these three aspects.

To be successful it is best to keep things simple. People should understand the whole story within five minutes. If they can’t, you have to reapply yourself. Every employee should be able to easily recount the products, services, potential customers and value proposition of your company, otherwise they wouldn’t know what they are selling and who they are servicing.

14

A Logo to Remember

Subroto Bagchi, gardener and vice-chairman of MindTree, is one of the most creative people that I have worked with. His strength lies in his ability to comprehend human nature and channel behaviour towards desired organizational outcomes. He can find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. Once, when we were driving in New Jersey, he noticed at a crossing a small placard that read ‘Arboretum’ surrounded by plants. An arboretum is a collection of plants to be nurtured and grown. Subroto loved the idea. He launched ‘Concept Arboretum’ to nurture and grow leaders at MindTree. In another incident, people who were deputed to client sites were crying foul that the company didn’t have many touch points, so he helped launch ‘Concept ABNF—away but not far’. Employees working at client sites were called to the office for a two-day refresher programme where they met most of the senior executives. Subsequently an e-mail group was created to send them information about the company and keep in touch. Subroto comes up with simple ideas to solve complex problems.

I first met Subroto at Wipro where he was heading international R&D and was considered a ‘rainmaker’ for introducing the concept of ‘lab on hire’. During the initial days of my career at Wipro, besides handling some strategic assignments, as part of the grounding regimen I was also given the task of cleaning up the provident-fund records for the company. My team consisted, for doing this assignment, of two people—Ravi and myself. I groaned almost every day, because it was unadulterated skunk-work and I also had to spend half my time in the dusty record-room scrounging for data and I suffer from dust allergy. Those were the days when Lotus 1-2-3 and Foxpro were in vogue and Bill Gates hadn’t launched MS Office. Around that time, Subroto decided to apply for a provident-fund loan for his house construction, which my colleague Ravi couldn’t service in time, as we were too caught up! Subroto was unhappy and asked to meet him. Ravi didn’t want to go and meet Subroto all by himself, so I accompanied him to the meeting. When I entered the room, Subroto looked at me enquiringly.

I was anyway flustered and I thought this was an opportunity to vent, so I said, ‘Subroto, my name is Prasad; Ravi’s colleague. We are sorry that processing your loan got delayed. We will fix it, but somebody else’s application will get delayed and please allow me to explain why.’ It took me five minutes to describe how applications are processed and what caused the delay. We told him that Ravi was the only person processing everything and stressed the need for additional people. Subroto appreciated our candidness and agreed to speak with Brian Jones, VP, HR, which he subsequently did, and we got some additional people.

Almost six years after that incident, when Subroto was forming the initial start-up team for MindTree, he remembered our small interaction and asked me to join the team. I thought it was a great opportunity to pursue. Gary Collins in Coopers’ STT office once told me, ‘It doesn’t matter which company you work for, as long as you are working with people who can make a difference to your life’, and sure they did!

The initial days at MindTree moved at breakneck speed. We operated from a small office off Infantry Road. One day, Subroto called me and said, ‘Kalyan and I are planning to go to the Spastics Society of Karnataka in Indiranagar. Would you like to join us?’ The Spastics Society of Karnataka is an NGO that runs a school for children with neuro-muscular and developmental disabilities.

I said, ‘Yes, I would love to.’ En route, I asked Subroto, ‘Why are we going to the Spastics Society?’

He smiled. ‘Have you ever been there before?’ When I shook my head, he said, ‘It is an experience in itself, so have patience and we will work on it together.’

When we reached the Society, the teachers received us warmly and took us to a classroom where about ten differently-abled children were participating in varied activities. Some were painting, some were reading, some were being read to, some were trying to walk and some were in wheelchairs. The teachers introduced us to the children as Subroto uncle, Kalyan uncle and Prasad uncle. Then they turned to the children and said, ‘Children, these uncles will work on an interesting assignment with all of us. Do you want to participate in that?’

‘Yes!’ the children responded enthusiastically.

Subroto had already discussed his plans with the teachers who had provided flip-chart boards, drawing-paper, markers, pens, etc. He smiled at the children and said, ‘My name is Subroto which means good intentions.’ Most children started laughing. He said, ‘We have come here to seek your help in designing a logo for our company.’ The children didn’t understand what a logo was. So, Subroto unrolled a chart-paper where names of companies and logos were neatly affixed. Then he explained what each of the companies did and what the logo signified.

He pointed to the logo of the State Bank of India and asked, ‘What does this logo mean?’

‘It is a keyhole,’ one child replied and everybody laughed. Then another child said, ‘It is a bank and somebody is locking the bank.’ A child sitting in a wheelchair said, ‘It means my money is safely locked.’

Subroto interjected and said, ‘All of you are right. It means, we are a bank, deposit your money with us and we will lock it and keep it safe for you.’ Subroto took them through the logos of many more companies and explained to them the concept behind each of them. He then added, ‘Every company has a logo which depicts what the company stands for. It is like a symbol, meant for instant recall. It is important to have a great logo because companies are often identified by them and well-recognized logos become international brands.’

A child asked, ‘Uncle, what is a “brand”?’

Subroto thought for a while and answered, ‘A brand is a well-recognized symbol, as perceived by the viewer.’

Another child raised her hand and said, ‘What is the meaning of “perceived”?’ The questions were getting deeper and we were enjoying the session.

Subroto smiled again and said, ‘Perceived means what you think beyond what you see. For example, when you saw the SBI logo, you saw a keyhole and you associated that with a bank. Then you said that your money is safe in a deposit locker. The series of thoughts that cross your mind when you see or hear something is perception.’

I thought it was a great lesson for the kids. They learnt about companies, why companies have a logo, what a brand means and the meaning of the word ‘perception’. I realized that it was not easy to explain everything to children.

Subroto continued and said, ‘Our company’s name is MindTree Consulting and it makes software. We want to make a company with unlimited growth potential. The company will help solve customer problems, keep employees happy and will be known for its innovative approach. Now that you know what our company does and what a logo is, can you all help design a logo for our company?’

All the children loved the idea. K.S. Chetan, a student affected with cerebral palsy and with speech and motor disability asked, ‘Uncle, what does “innovation” mean?’

Subroto replied, ‘Doing things uniquely or doing unique things is called innovation.’ I thought that was the simplest definition of innovation one could give.

He continued, ‘You must have seen a cellphone, that is innovative isn’t it? That instrument changed the way you talk to your mom, right? It made everybody’s life easier. So, it is an innovation.’ All the children nodded. ‘We will give you chart papers and colour pencils,’ Subroto said, ‘and let us see if you can come up with some interesting logos in the next one hour. All of you will get chocolates if you make wonderful logos.’

Chart papers and colour pencils were distributed to the children. The teachers at the Society were also very happy with the workshop; not many outsiders organized such activities for the children. One child drew a bird and said, ‘A bird symbol is unique; a bird can fly to great heights and everybody loves it.’ It was wonderful to see how the children reacted to what Subroto had explained. Another child showed us clouds and said, ‘Clouds are the logo because clouds are free to do whatever they want; they give us rain and rains make good crops and we get food to eat. Everybody is happy.’

An hour passed and we decided to return to the office. We told the teachers that we would return in a few days and the teachers promised to work with the children and see what they could do about it. Once in the car I thanked Subroto for bringing me along. ‘It was a great experience.’ He smiled and said he had been thinking about this for a while and wanted to take it to fruition.

After a couple of days, Subroto and I went back to the Spastics Society and looked at the different logos made by the children. There were all kinds of pictures, of birds, clouds, rainfall, trees, etc. One drawing by Chetan caught our attention. He had painted a red background and in the centre was a decisive upward blue brushstroke with yellow dots around it.

We asked Chetan what the logo meant and he replied, ‘The red background means action orientation, the blue stroke was imagination and the yellow dots were bubbles of joy. Subroto listened to him attentively and said, ‘That is wonderful Chetan. I see great potential in this logo. Thank you for your effort.’ We took the logo and went back. On the way back, Subroto told me that he liked what Chetan had done and it was highly probable that this would be the logo.

Subroto subsequently took the concept to the ad agency, brought structure to the logo and released it to the press with the initial tagline of ‘Imagination-Action-Joy’. The logo, its creator K.S. Chetan, and the story of how the logo was designed was splashed in major newspapers and magazines in the country, heralding the birth of a new and innovative company. Chetan got the opportunity to meet Bill Clinton, former president of the United States, when he visited India in March 2000.

The unique way in which Subroto went about creating a logo set the benchmark for innovation at MindTree. Very few people have the ability to connect and give life to simple concepts, the way he does. He has written several books and people sit up and listen when he speaks. We had some great times together and I have wonderful memories of working with him.

15

Screenwriting

Jaideep Sahni researched women’s hockey for about a year before narrating the story of Chak De! India to Aditya Chopra, deputy chairman of Yash Raj Films. It is the story of a coach who recreates and inspires the national women’s hockey team to win the World Cup. Aditya liked the story and agreed to produce it. Jaideep started working on the script and by the time he finished the working draft he had about one hundred and twenty versions. Meanwhile, Shimit Amin agreed to direct the movie, an important milestone because very few directors have the capability and leadership ability to direct a sports movie. The script and other details of the project were sent to Shah Rukh Khan and he unwaveringly committed himself to it. It took six months to identify girls from different parts of the country to be part of the hockey team. Once on board, they were trained for three to six months before shooting began.

The movie took twelve months to complete and it was worth all the effort. Chak De! India became a colossal blockbuster and established the fact that well-produced films based on a strong concept can do as well as masala movies. For Jaideep, the three years of making Chak De! was one long emotional moment that began when he read a short news-clipping about women’s hockey.

‘The news item went unnoticed by almost everybody,’ he says, ‘but I felt emotional about it. I wanted to do something for the women’s hockey team. I initially thought of doing a documentary or writing a book on the team. As I researched, the idea unfolded further and I decided to write a movie script.’

Jaideep was born to middle-class parents who migrated from Lahore. His father started off as a stenographer in the central secretariat services and rose in rank in the course of his thirty-five-year-long career, and his mother was a teacher. Theirs was a simple family—exemplifying the dictum ‘we can’t give you property or lots of money, but we will give you good education, knowledge and exposure.’ During the summer vacations Jaideep’s mother would bring sixty books to read and tell him to read a book a day. Jaideep developed a voracious reading habit from his early childhood days. He says, ‘There were books on animals, plants, poems, literature and so much more. I liked reading the science and technology books, about scientists and their inventions. I even read an abridged version of Shakespeare’s plays when I was a kid. Reading about such varied topics really helped broaden my thinking.’

Jaideep’s father wrote the civil services exam but couldn’t clear the final interview. He always felt that there was silent discrimination against the competence of stenographers. He swallowed his disappointment and over the years took internal exams and was eventually promoted to the central secretariat services. This was as good as the civil services, but perhaps not in the same league. Hurt by the apparent prejudice, he encouraged his son to prepare for the civil services exam. However, Jaideep, then studying computer science and engineering in Bidar, had his own dreams. Jaideep replied, ‘What is the point of working in the government, taking bribes and pushing files?’

‘Jaideep, you have known me all your life. Tell me, do you really believe I take bribes?’ his distraught father asked.

Jaideep didn’t know how to react. He apologized for his remark.

Jaideep’s father continued, ‘Every day, scores of students like you go to schools and colleges, because thousands of people like us, government servants, push files and keep the country moving. If you remove the machinery and the files and what we do, the country’s governance and development framework will collapse. People in this country have opportunities because somewhere in some dusty office a government servant has dedicated his entire life to pushing files.’

Jaideep never forgot this conversation with his father.

After he graduated, Jaideep worked with NIIT in IT consulting before jumping into advertising, and joining Contract Advertising. His salary plummeted from Rs 10,000 a month to Rs 650. At the end of six years, he began to feel that he was not doing original work by just adding creative lines to aid some product or company.

‘How many jingles and ads can we write in praise of tomato ketchup? You get bored and I got bored as well.’

Meanwhile, Pradeep Sarkar, ten years his senior in Contract Advertising, left to start Apocalypse, an advertising firm. Jaideep immediately teamed up with him and together they started making corporate films, advertising films, etc. At the end of each project, Jaideep was paid his share. They were doing well financially, but Jaideep felt that money was trapping his creative instinct; he had to break free.

Jaideep recounts, ‘I became a freelance communications consultant. This was a tough decision to take. I jumped headlong into making films and advertisements and writing content. That was when I came across the script of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. To my mind, the script appeared like a computer program with a series of instructions. It appealed to me and I decided to work on screenwriting.’ However, he quickly realized that as a newcomer he wouldn’t get paid and would have to dip into his savings, but he persisted.

Fortunately for him, Ram Gopal Varma gave him an opportunity to write the movie, Jungle. Jaideep did a lot of research on Veerappan, and started writing. The movie was shot as the script was being written. ‘I would write a few scenes and Ram Gopal Varma would cut the script. At the end of a few months he would have cut more than 50 per cent of what I had written. I really learnt more from what he cut out of the script than what he kept. He taught me how to optimize a script.

‘Preparing and shooting for Bunty aur Babli was another learning experience. Rani Mukherjee had a difficult scene in the film which was funny and sad at the same time, and she delivered a powerful performance, conveying the humour through the dialogue and the sadness through her eyes. As I watched her, I realized the scene was a perfect combination of good writing and brilliant acting. I learnt that complex scenes with contradictory emotions can be portrayed successfully when you interact with your whole heart and mind with your colleagues from other specialities, allowing both your craft and imagination to grow. Screenwriting is all about learning. I learn by listening every day, every minute, with every person, with every actor and with every shot. In this industry people are incredibly intelligent and unbelievably hardworking.’

Jaideep learnt a lot working with people like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mohan Lal and Prem Chopra. He says, ‘When they arrive on the sets, they completely submit themselves to you. They block out their personality and their stardom, and become consummate actors. For them, the shot and that moment matter the most. Once they are ready for the shot, they’ll often say, “Sir, we are ready.” I feel embarrassed to be addressed in this manner, but that is their mental make-up before the shot. Once the shot is complete, they look for approval from the audience and the director and willingly repeat the shot till the director is satisfied. They take the director’s feedback and try to improve their performance, not say whatever comes to their mind. They are thorough professionals, always punctual, prepared with their lines and committed to their work. I think people who have this professional ethic last long in the industry and are also well respected.’

Jaideep does extensive research before he writes a script. He spends anywhere from nine months to a year developing each of his scripts and revises them upwards of seventy-five times at the very least. Jaideep says, ‘The time taken to write a script varies. Movies like Khosla ka Ghosla took less time and movies like Chak De! took a lot more. Sometimes I go with the flow of thought and sometimes I incorporate structure to bring a twist in the tale, but research is very important.’

For Bunty aur Babli he drew from his experiences during his consulting and advertising days when he toured western UP extensively. He researched small towns and local customs; the concept was ‘being desi is cool’. It turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 2005. While writing Khosla ka Ghosla he relied on his extended family who had faced a similar dilemma in dealing with local real-estate developers. All the movies that he scripted have different themes and focus on richness of detail and narration.

Jaideep says, ‘I write my stories from my heart and build characters with emotion and I keep working back and forth till I am satisfied. I don’t look at the ending when I write, I don’t strategize, thoughts emerge and things fall in place.’

Discussing the various movies he made, Jaideep says, ‘Company was given a documentary approach, so we used cerebral aggression in our screenplay. Every screen conveyed a rush of adrenaline and people loved it. In Bunty aur Babli, we went with an easy conversational narration and sequencing. In Chak Del, each scene was built on anticipation. The movie kept unfolding till the last minute. Rocket Singh and Aaja Nachle didn’t do as well. Audiences came to watch a funny movie but Rocket Singh turned out to be serious and people identified workflow issues with Aaja Nachle. There is no standard formula in moviemaking. Films based on audience surveys have failed as have those based on tricks and twists in screenplay alone. A good movie is a combination of several factors and the inherent storyline predominantly holds the audience’s attention.’

Though Jaideep doesn’t give much importance to awards—he thinks they might make him complacent—in the last decade he has received twenty-five of them. He keeps all his awards on a shelf in the kitchen.

Professionalism, work ethic, creativity, empathy, contextual learning and humility seem to be the common denomination for success, irrespective of the industry you are in. Jaideep is successful because he is able to bring simple topics to the forefront with his ability to visualize and write.

He is passionate and creative—a winning combination.

16

Simple Living, High Thinking

I met Ravi Venkatesan briefly when he was working as chairman of Microsoft, India. He exuded immense confidence and was calm and composed in his demeanour. What really struck me hard was his clarity of thought. He was the kind of person who could see through the haze and tell you where to throw the dart.

After completing high school, Ravi decided to study engineering at IIT, and chose not to apply to any other college. Since there was no fallback option, the pressure was immense, but he worked hard and secured admission to IIT, Mumbai. Having graduated from IIT, Ravi joined Purdue University, Indiana, in the masters in industrial engineering programme. After Purdue, Ravi joined Cummins, US, where he made up his mind to do an MBA from Harvard Business School. Armed with two years of work experience, a decent GMAT score and a handful of references, he applied to Harvard but he wasn’t accepted. Ravi wanted to understand why he had been rejected and met with the admissions committee. The committee told him that they didn’t see any leadership experience in the two years of his work experience. The admissions committee told him, ‘Leadership is the differentiator we are looking for, come back with something to talk about.’

Ravi returned to Cummins, determined to make a difference. He wanted to improve shop-floor efficiency and understand ground issues. The best way to do that was to interact with the workmen on the shop floor on a daily basis, so he moved his desk from the managers’ work area to the shop floor. Ravi says, ‘During those days, the culture was different. Managers and workers had separate work-areas and interacted only when there was a need. So, when I moved my desk to the shop floor, people didn’t understand what I was doing. There was an element of discomfort and suspicion. But once I started working with the workmen and made a difference, things started changing and people accepted me.’

The factory was strongly unionized and engineers and workmen had an agreement that engineers would be allowed to operate the equipment only in the presence of the workmen. However, Ravi believed that engineers had every right to operate the machines even when the operators were not present, and proceeded to do just that. One of the union leaders saw this and wanted to register a complaint against Ravi and asked the operator to file a written complaint to start the proceedings. The operator refused and said, ‘Ravi is one of the few people who is making a difference on the shop floor and he has a good relationship with all of us, so I won’t be pressing charges.’

While he continued to work at Cummins, Ravi devoted a portion of his time to academics and regularly read the Harvard Business Review (HBR). One day he came across an article by Professor Wickham Skinner on ‘Focused Factories—Lean Manufacturing’ and wrote to the professor, refuting some of the concepts in the article. Professor Wickham, considered the father of manufacturing strategy, appreciated Ravi’s views and encouraged him to write an article for the HBR. Ravi’s article was published in the Review when he was just twenty-six and he was elated. Two years later, Ravi applied to Harvard once more and this time he was accepted.

Compared to his previous attempt he did three things differently:

- He built leadership experience by closely working on the shop floor.

- He published an article in HBR when he was barely twenty-six.

- He took a reference letter from one of the shop-floor workers who had written that while most managers and supervisors pushed them to deliver better output and results, Ravi had focused his efforts in teaching them and helping them understand process efficiencies. He had helped them build skills and build a perspective, displaying great leadership potential. ‘We believe, given the opportunity, he could be an outstanding leader.’

At Harvard, besides making lifelong friends, Ravi enjoyed a richness and diversity of experience. He says, ‘I met some amazing people in my life and learnt so much from them. My self-confidence increased by leaps and bounds. It was one of the best times of my life. There were just two things I didn’t like. Harvard trims the bottom 10 per cent performers at the end of the first year. The students competed with each other for grades and the intense competition was killing everyone. And, grades for active class participation compelled students to outdo each other, even when they had nothing of relevance to say. At the end of the first year, I decided not to participate in unnecessary discussions and my grades didn’t drop. I think the professors are smart and can easily tell the difference. I think the ability to think and arrive at meaningful conclusions is important and that culminates in maturity.’ Ravi was academically oriented and during his two-year MBA course, he wrote his second article for the HBR called ‘Strategic Sourcing: To Make or Not to Make’. He completed his MBA and graduated as a Baker Scholar in 1992. He currently serves on the board of the Harvard Business School.

After his MBA, Ravi went back to Cummins where he worked with Joseph Loughery, president of the company. During the next couple of years, he introduced new manufacturing strategies, which changed the complexion of the business. Ravi says, ‘Cummins is a hundred-year-old company and we had to change to compete with global players. We changed the sourcing mix and started procuring 80 per cent of the materials and the company became nimble.’

Once the assignment was done, Ravi was posted as the CEO of the joint venture between Cummins and the Tata Group. On taking charge Ravi realized that the joint venture was running losses, there was hardly any trust between the two companies and it was the only surviving joint venture in the Tata Group and was holding on to its last straws.

‘Before I left for India, Tim Solso, the CEO, told me: “Just manage the joint venture. If it blows up make sure the losses aren’t too big.” Expectations were quite low. However, I saw a big opportunity and India was a great market to be in. I decided to work on repairing the relationship between the companies. I started by talking to Ratan Tata, Vinod Rawal and Prakash Telang. They were extremely forthcoming and helpful. As the discussions progressed I realized that the terms were not equitable to both parties. Joint ventures don’t work when only one party always wins. We started working on the agreements all over again and developed terms which were equitable for both parties. That made a huge difference. I wish the idea of changing the terms had occurred to us two years earlier. Eventually the venture turned out to be a great success and I give credit to Solso and Joseph for giving me so much space and the freedom to act. I felt overwhelmed by their support. Very few people and companies give that kind of empowerment and accountability at such a young age. I was probably thirty-two years old and I was given the responsibility of fixing the joint venture. It is an important lesson. If you want to grow people, give them greater responsibilities early in their career; they will turn out to be successful.’

After nearly seventeen years at Cummins, Ravi moved to Microsoft. Bill Gates met with him as part of the selection process.

At the end of the discussion Ravi asked Gates, ‘Why me?’

Gates replied, ‘You come from outside the IT industry and the common-sense approach and the fresh perspective will help.’

‘How long can I be in this role?’

Gates thought in terms of tenure and said, ‘I expect at least three years or so.’

Ravi said, ‘No, what I mean is that I am a person who sticks to a role for a long time. Unless we do that we cannot leave our signature behind and we cannot create an institution. I expect to grow with the role as it unfolds.’

Gates was impressed with what Ravi said and nodded in agreement.

Ravi says, ‘Bill is an amazing person. His ability to reinvent himself, his enormous appetite for risk and his curiosity—the combination of these three qualities is quite rare and that probably helps being who he is.’

For Ravi the biggest challenge and opportunity in Microsoft was people. People, time and intellectual property define a software product. Ravi feels that the senior management should devote a substantial amount of time grooming people.

‘A successful enterprise depends heavily on the ecosystem of partners and customers,’ Ravi says. ‘I admire Azim Premji greatly. I think he is so successful because he spends time in picking and grooming talent himself, he keenly strategizes which businesses Wipro should be in and he has an incredible ability to connect with customers.’

Ravi found Microsoft’s ability to morph and grow fascinating. He says, ‘We were nowhere in the search business and then Bing happened and we got a foothold in the market. With the Yahoo! alliance, our market share jumped to almost 26 per cent and Google is at about 67 per cent. Technologically, we could be similar; the difference could be brand perception and penetration. Anyway, the idea is not to play the game that everybody plays, but to come out with the next disruption. Look at what Apple is doing with mobility and product design. That is a niche and there is disruption out there. Cloud in the context of application access is an interesting proposition for the user. When new technology hits the market, people assume that Microsoft is dead, Apple is gone, IBM won’t survive, etc. Most people don’t understand that these companies have withstood the test of time and evolved continuously. The DNA of these companies is innovation and evolution. Companies that come out with disruptive technologies addressing the grass roots are going to make a huge difference to existing business models. For the India market, our strategy is to evolve those business models that address the middle and bottom segments of the pyramid.’

As chairman of Microsoft India, Ravi gave a keynote address at a Microsoft seminar on ‘India is Innovation’ in which he said, ‘Around 150 years ago, Isaac Singer of Singer sewing-machine fame made his name immortal and created a great fortune by allowing people to pay $5 per month rather than pay for their sewing machine upfront. Millions of housewives could suddenly afford to buy a Singer. A hundred years ago, Henry Ford did the same by paying his workers $5 an hour, enabling the middle-class American to own a luxury car. Bill Gates laid the foundation of his vision thirty years ago to install a computer on every desktop and in every home. Sam Walton made everything affordable for the middle class in America by creating the world’s largest company. In India, Captain Gopinath created Deccan Airways with a dream of making flying a reality for middle-class Indians. Fares dropped about 10–50 per cent. In no time, he created an enterprise with a market cap of almost $1 billion. Dhirubhai Ambani envisioned people being able to talk to each other on a cellphone for less than the cost of a postcard. Today Reliance Communications is worth $8 billion.

‘What is the lesson here? To create great fortunes, great enterprises need to be built by serving the needs of the middle and bottom of the pyramid. That will benefit our society and the country as a whole. This is an extraordinary opportunity and those of us who are fortunate to live in these times will look back with some regret if we don’t seize the moment to innovate and become entrepreneurs.’

Ravi leads a very simple life. He is deeply religious and believes in karma. He doesn’t own a car; he finds it easier to hop into cabs and autos. ‘I keep my needs to a bare minimum and avoid all the big trappings. If you keep it simple, life will be smooth. Once I was driving a rented car in Seattle and got stuck at an intersection. When I looked out of the window I saw Bill Gates driving his own car and waiting for the traffic to pass by. No chauffeur, no frills.’

There are interesting lessons to learn from Ravi’s experiences:

- If you really and badly want to pursue something, you must go after it and do whatever it takes to succeed. Ravi was determined: Harvard or nothing else. If you develop that kind of an appetite for taking risks the chances of success increase manifold.

- Once you decide on doing something ambitious, you have to make sure that you think innovatively and develop a keen perception of what it takes to be successful. Ravi exhibited leadership on the shop floor and the workers loved him for his sincerity.

- If you are playing a senior-management role, you have to develop a sense of fairness. In the Tata–Cummins joint venture, Ravi felt the terms were not equitable so he worked towards making them even and the venture became really successful.

- If you are leading a company or a function, it is important to stick around for some time, only then can you leave your signature behind.

- Think about disruptive businesses, solutions and ideas and you are bound to succeed. Apparently cellphones are putting the digital cameras out of business. CISCO’s Tele-presence solution is the biggest threat to airline companies. There is disruption all around us. Companies are enticing people with ‘experience’. The concept is to ‘personalize’—the real money is in there.

- These are great times to be an entrepreneur and if you have solutions and ideas to serve the middle and bottom end of the pyramid, then you are knocking at an extraordinary window of opportunity.

17

Culture Integration Key to Mergers

On 2 April 2006, Serge Tchuruk, former non-executive chairman of Alcatel–Lucent announced, ‘A few hours ago, the boards of the two companies have unanimously approved a merger between our two companies to form no less than the world’s leading communication-solutions provider … The combined revenue of the two companies is going to be about €21 billion or $25 billion … the combined market cap of the two companies amounts to approximately €30 billion or $36 billion. The transaction will be a stock-for-stock merger which is going to be structured as a tax-free exchange of Alcatel shares for Lucent’s.’

As on March 2011, Alcatel-Lucent’s market cap was $13.15 billion; $22.85 billion of shareholder value got decimated in about five years.

Immediately after the merger, in an informal discussion, Solomon Ravi Kumar, head of Lucent HR, said, ‘This is going to be a difficult merger. Culturally we are so not aligned.’

The merger started off with the expected euphoria. Celebrations on day one, employee communications, unveiling of the new logo and analyst meetings—all went extremely well. With task forces taking shape, interactions between Lucent and Alcatel took place. Solomon and I carried out an informal exercise and arrived at a summary of cultural differences between the two companies (see following table). There was nothing right or wrong with either culture, we were just trying to highlight operating styles of the two companies.

Parameter

Alcatel

Lucent

Decision-making

Functional and quick

Matrix and process-driven

Communication

Direct and e-mail-driven

Democratic, consensus-driven, followed by round tables. Post-acceptance by all, e-mail was sent.

Work methods

Regional teams worked independently with minimum support from the centre.

Functioned at central level, worked with regions and approach was methodical and centralized.

Reporting

Local and regional

Matrix hierarchy into corporate

Perceived description

Fast, risk-takers, nimble, assertive

Process and consensus-driven, low risk, high on compliance

Perceived language barrier

French. Many people in Alcatel could not speak English well, especially the Paris-based employees.

American English. Most Lucent people did not know French.

Perceived favourite drink and work style

Having wine with lunch during conferences

Working sandwich- or pizza-lunches

Style

Flexible, nimble, adaptable, highly empowered

Intellectual-property (IP)-driven, equality- and equity-driven, low to medium empowerment

Leadership

Wants to get things done

Wants to do the right things

Perceived future focus

Market share and sales

Product development

Customer focus

Relationship and value driven

Quality and service at any cost

Teamwork

Within span of control, local and to an extent regional

Driven centrally, functionally in a matrix

Reward culture

Performance and relationships

Performance, relationship, networking, interface, etc.

Solomon had done a substantial amount of post-integration work and managed multiple acquisitions during his long tenure with Lucent and he knew which buttons to push. However, this was a giant of a merger and everything could potentially change. He used to laughingly tell me, ‘The more I think about it, the more I feel this merger is going to erode shareholder value.’ He was right; it did.

In the days immediately after the merger, Solomon took us through the five-step approach to cultural integration, which he was trained in:

- Strategy: Define the outcomes of the cultural integration taskforce.

- Objectives: Ensure that outcomes are part of the key result areas for senior business. (Tie their bonuses to these outcomes.)

- Articulate: Spell out a communication plan (two-way) and stick to it.

- Break and reward: Break corporate myths. Create success stories and publicize them.

- Review: Conduct aggressive reviews at least once a month for the first one year after the merger.

From the Indian perspective, the leadership team was reasonably successful in helping integrate the merged entity. However, globally, as the days and months passed by, the operational differences, among a bunch of other factors, didn’t help much in the integration efforts and could have potentially led to erosion in stakeholder value.

Eric Beaudan and Greg Smith in their article ‘Corporate Culture: Asset or Liability’, in the March-April 2000 issue of Ivey Business Journal, say that, ‘Bending organizational cultures is an unnatural act—like slicing genres. Yet newly merged companies must act quickly to shape the evolving culture into a joint asset. Otherwise, they risk creating a nagging and compounding liability. Culture has the uncanny ability to resist change because it is deeply ingrained in the mindsets of its protective owners.’

Corporate culture has to be adaptable to change. It will enable the leadership to take the right decisions and permeate execution through different levels in the company. A 2006 White Paper from the Economic Intelligence Unit revealed that 67 per cent of survey respondents pointed to cultural integration as the most important people issue and the most critical success factor in a mergers-and-acquisitions deal.

A similar case of mergers, published by the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, no. 1–0071, about the merger of DaimlerChrysler is an interesting read.

On 7 May 1998, Bob Eaton announced that Chrysler would merge with Daimler Benz. Jurgen Schrempp, CEO of Daimler Benz, hailed the merger as ‘a merger of equals, a merger of growth and a merger of unprecedented strength’. The new company had 4,42,000 employees and a market cap of close to $100 billion. Eaton predicted, ‘Within five years we will be within the top three automotive makers in the world.’ Just three years later DaimlerChrysler’s market cap was $44 billion, equal to what Daimler was before the merger.

Why had the merger failed? Obviously a cultural clash! The Jeep Grand Cherokee and Mercedes M-class are so different in their outlook, segments, branding, servicing, price and origination—almost everything is different. How do you manage people who manage these products? It is about reinventing mindsets overnight! Running etiquette training programmes and cultural-sensitivity workshops take you only so far. Sometimes, in such cases, products have to be segmented and structured along different business lines. I often wonder why capable CEOs don’t think through these issues. I believe getting external help during a merger situation helps a lot. Neutral third-party consulting firms help provide an outside view on how things could be managed.

Solomon has a different view. ‘If mergers fail, CEOs get fired and that is good for them. They end up with fat severance packages. Best would be to tie a CEO’s exit package to shareholder value. If the value erodes, say beyond 20 per cent, then the CEO should be fired without any exit package. Then things will change substantially.’

At the time of a merger, managements concentrate on value creation and tend to underestimate potential value erosion. Not many look at the softer aspects. Language, etiquette, operational styles, products, brands, services—all these count when you merge. Unless the senior management clearly addresses cultural-integration issues, things won’t fall in place.

I think big global mergers don’t really work because of conflicting objectives. CEOs and stakeholders are compelled to focus on quarterly numbers. Besides, large mergers have too many parameters to resolve and are long-term in nature. If inorganic growth is the strategy to be followed, then it is best to follow the CISCO route. CISCO has participated in more mergers-and-acquisitions deals than any company can imagine and has been phenomenally successful at it. A friend explained CISCO’s acquisition approach:

- Identify smaller companies that have a great idea, product, customer or service and which can fit into overall CISCO’s acquisition strategy.

- Ensure that the company has critical mass and a good promoter team.

- Pitch a market valuation, which is truly win-win for both the parties.

- Wrap up the deal within three months from the day talks begin.

- Ensure that payables to promoters and key stakeholders are linked to post-merger success with clearly defined financials and performance indices.

- Evaluate the merger every quarter to ensure that there is no value erosion.

- The incentives for the merger team of CISCO depend upon the quality of the pick and success of the integration.

With such strong fundamentals, it is impossible for CISCO not to succeed. When we look at the examples of Alcatel–Lucent, DaimlerChrysler and CISCO, two things stick out, viz. it is important to evaluate cultural impact upfront and to assess whether the impact is manageable. Assuming it is manageable, then for the merger to succeed, a ‘strong integration plan’ with the CEO as the prime stakeholder, with zero pay-off severance packages for non-performance, should be put in place.

18

Giving is Important, Not How Much

I was in Class Two when Mother Teresa visited my school. She stood up on the stage and gave a short speech. I do not remember what the speech was about. After the speech, she sat on stage, along with the principal of the school and some teachers. One by one, the parents in the auditorium started going up to the stage with envelopes that contained donations. Once on stage, they gave it to one of the sisters standing next to Mother Teresa.

I thought it was obligatory for everybody to do that. So I too started climbing up the steps to the stage when somebody said, ‘Hey, get that kid out of the way.’ Mother Teresa noticed what was happening and she walked up to me, took me to the stage and asked why I wanted to meet her.

I replied, ‘All the parents are coming up to give you money. I thought I too should give you something. I have only a rupee that my father gave me to buy candy, and I can share fifty paise.’

I remember Mother’s eyes welling up with tears as she kissed me on my forehead and said, ‘It is important to give, doesn’t matter how much. It purifies.’ So I gave her the one rupee and she asked somebody there to return fifty paise to me. She then stood up and announced to the auditorium that I had contributed fifty paisa towards her cause and that she was touched. She said it didn’t matter what and how much people contributed. All that mattered was whether one had the heart to contribute.

As a small child, she was Sister Teresa to me, a nun who wanted to help the poor and downtrodden. She was probably not a Nobel laureate then. I am glad I met her early, that I got the opportunity to contribute in her journey. Doesn’t matter how much; it purified.

Unlike in the developed nations, community contribution is somehow not a widespread phenomenon in India. I believe sharing wealth is as important as creating wealth. A few years ago Time magazine compiled a list of the top 100 individuals who had changed the planet. Bill Gates was one of them. Not because he created Microsoft, but for his seminal work in improving the lives of people globally through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has donated almost half his wealth for the welfare of the community.

Contribution to the community should start at home. In the March–April 2008 issue of the American, the journal of the American Enterprise Institute, Arthur C. Brooks writes in his article, ‘A Nation of Givers’, that ‘the total community contribution in the US is about $295 billion and this has grown by about 4.2 per cent in the last three years. Estimates indicated that 70–80 per cent Americans contribute an average of $1000 per annum towards community spending; only a third of it goes to religious institutions and the rest goes to education, health and social welfare. The tax system helps the cause too. If a taxpayer pays $1000 and pays a tax rate of 35 per cent on her last dollar of income, the donation saves her $350 in taxes. Interestingly, low-income working families are the most generous group in America, giving away on an average 4.5 per cent of their annual income.’

Community contributions go into nation-building activities. If 120 crore Indians each contributed just Rs 37.5 annually, then the country would have $1 billion more every year.

According to a Rediff.com news article dated 9 February 2009, ‘Moderation in the growth rate has come with some good news, with the country’s per capita income expected to more than double over the last seven years to Rs 38,084 in 2008–09, reflecting improvement in the living standards of an average Indian.’ So, if we divide the contribution of Rs 37.5 by our per capita income, it is 0.1 per cent, a minuscule amount to contribute. We will have to look at the economies of scale in community-building efforts, else we will continue to be backward in sustaining community and economic growth.

19

Plan A, Wharton and Think Tanks

After graduating from IIT, Delhi, in 1993, Alok Bardia got final calls from IIM, Kolkata, and IIM, Lucknow, but he chose to study at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). He wanted to stay in Delhi and prepare for the civil services exam, his plan A. Studying at IIFT was a fallback, plan B. However, preparation for the civil services fizzled out pretty quickly and Alok stuck to plan B.

‘Sometimes the security of a plan B does not allow you to put in your best for plan A,’ Alok says. ‘So, if you really want plan A to succeed, then sacrifice a bit more and stick it out. Don’t have a plan B and the probability of success increases. Often people end up de-risking so much that they end up not pursuing their dreams.’

Alok worked for six years with Marubeni Corporation and Tata Administrative Services before he decided to pursue an MBA. He scored 760 in the GMAT, his essays, tests and interviews went off extremely well and he was accepted into the Wharton School of Business. Wharton was the big break he looked forward to. It put him in a different league. He says, ‘It was a truly global experience. People from various countries and different walks of life went to Wharton. The school broke through my inhibitions in working with people from different environments and taught me to be a team player. Wharton gave me the confidence to explore new things.’

At Wharton, Alok revived the yoga club that had been defunct for some time. It was not an easy task; it involved commitment, pitching for funding, enrolling members and sustaining the club. In an environment where people are already pressed for time, any additional involvement or commitment for more time becomes very difficult. He says, ‘The place needed it, we had to let go, we had to de-stress and this was a great opportunity to do that.’

‘Participating in the Wharton Leadership Ventures programme was an important experience. The programme covered key aspects of learning, relating to leadership, change management, decision-making, self-exploration and teamwork.’

The Wharton Leadership Ventures programme is run by Professor Michael Useem, the William and Jaclyn Egan Professor, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton. The programme involved initiatives such as trekking to the Himalayan base camp and going into the wilderness. Mike championed a unique programme for both batches of MBA students where they had to spend two and a half days at a US Marine base in Quantico, Virginia. The students were woken up at 4 a.m. and the day started with long jogs, followed by exercise, breakfast and classes. Rules were explained and the students were treated like Marines. It was a wonderful experience for the students. Alok says, ‘These are the kind of training programmes which companies should run. That is how you build great leaders.’

Subsequently Alok also became a core facilitator for a half-day programme on meditation under the aegis of Wharton Leadership Ventures. ‘We had just fifty slots and in the first year more than 500 students applied, so we had to randomly select participants. We got Wharton Alumni and one of them was a monk who turned into a New York banker and eventually graduated out of Wharton. In the US and especially in these Ivy League universities, people take your experience as valuable and different. There is no stigma attached to what you did in the past and people don’t think linearly. They don’t say, “You have been a monk, now go become a head priest, why banking?” Society gives people an opportunity to try different things.’

Since the meditation programme was a big hit with the students, it was repeated the following year and Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, one of the world’s largest medical technology Fortune 500 companies, was invited as the keynote speaker. Bill was chairman of the Medtronic board from 1996–2002. Under his leadership, Medtronic’s market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging a 35 per cent growth per year. Bill works as a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School.

Alok says, ‘Bill talked a little about meditation and then spoke substantially about “True North Leadership”.’

True North Leadership is about passion and the conviction to lead with an intrinsic desire to grow and create. It usually comes from life experiences and may not necessarily come from a trait which a person possesses. Bill gave the example of Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks Coffee, whose father lost his job thirty times. As he watched his father suffer the lack of pension and healthcare, Howard thought, ‘I should create a company my father will be proud to work at.’ Starbucks has a comprehensive healthcare programme for all its employees and part-time workers.

Alok currently works as director, worldwide business development, at CISCO. Talking about the future he says, ‘I love what I am doing now. Eventually, I may want to start a policy think tank in India.’

Wikipedia defines a think tank as ‘a policy institute, an organization, institute, corporation, group or individual that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economy, science, technology, industrial or business policies or military advice’. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations and in countries like the US and Canada they are extended a tax-exempt status. A recent study showed that there are about 5465 think tanks worldwide, of which 1777 are in the US with 350 in Washington DC alone. India, a country of billion people, has eleven think tanks.

Most advisors to the US President usually come from think tanks or academia. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, publication 16188:

- Denis McDonough, recently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is the national security coordinator for Obama’s campaign. McDonough was foreign policy adviser to former Senate democratic leader Tom Daschle. The Center for American Progress is a policy-based think tank.

- Richard Danzig, who until recently was the Sam Nunn Prize fellow in international security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is also a consultant to the department of defence on bioterrorism. The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington DC-based foreign policy think tank.

- Anthony Lake was national security adviser to President Clinton and is now a professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

- Susan E. Rice, a Brookings Institution senior fellow for foreign policy, global economy and development, served as assistant Secretary of State for African affairs in the later years of the Clinton administration.

If we analyse the profiles of people chosen as advisors to President Obama for national security, foreign policy and economic affairs, we will notice that almost all of them are either from think tanks or the academia. Each one of them specializes in their field. The US model based on specialization has three advantages: First, it gives a long-term strategic view; second, specialists can influence government direction; and third, since advisors are from independent think tanks, they represent the interests of the country and not that of a political party or ideology.

Alok wants to develop similar think tanks in India that are seamlessly integrated with academia and politics. The policy think tanks would use strong research-based methods in polity advocacy and influence the government on key portfolios. ‘There are a few think tanks in India like the Centre for Policy Research which are doing a reasonable amount of work in policy-building, but may not have yet created a niche in addressing policy issues and at the scale that is required.’

Every person goes through transitional phases in his or her career. In the first phase, success at the personal level is important. In the second phase, people build depth of leadership and start adding significant value to the organization. This is where many careers stop. However, a few go beyond the organization and start contributing at a national and global level—the third phase where the acquired knowledge and wisdom are put to use for the development of a larger community.

A new breed of professionals who transcend organizational boundaries and contribute at the national level on issues relating to governance, polity and policy are emerging. In recent years, there has been an influx of young, educated politicians and corporators in mainstream politics. Education is changing villages and urban India. When the voter demographic changes from more ‘literate’ people to more ‘educated’ people, India will evolve even more rapidly. That will bring about true reform and harness the power of the world’s largest democracy.

20

Pop Song in School Assembly

Shruti Caprihan is a family friend and I have always been amazed by her creativity. Show her a place which needs a facelift and she will bring it to life with her designs and decorations. Shruti is a very visual person; she talks in pictures and images, changing themes and contexts to give new meaning to ordinary events. She got a master’s degree in geography and then followed it up with a master’s in regional planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

A mother of two, Shruti believes that children study best when creative methods are applied as learning tools. Learning by rote or reading notes doesn’t really motivate them as much.

‘Children love visuals, sounds, pictures, puzzles, trivia and play-based activities. They are innately curious and pick cues from the environment. I come from an architecture background and my teaching methods are different. I think in images and sounds and teach children accordingly. Drawing pictures, making diagrams, using chart paper, adding colours, solving crosswords is what I do with kids and they love it.’

Shruti teaches social studies to fourth- and fifth-standard students. She wants the children in her class to express themselves, to sing, dance, paint, draw, talk and discuss. As part of the geography and environmental curriculum she wanted children to be aware of air and noise pollution, garbage management, water conservation, etc. She chose the song ‘Jahan ho pyaar ka mausam’ by Viva, an Indi-pop girl band that was formed in 2002 and has since disbanded, and introduced the song in Delhi Public School’s morning assembly. The lyrics of the song are:

Jahan ho pyaar ka mausam

Jahan sab dilon ka ho sangam

Jahan meethi ho sab logon ki zubaan

Mujhe aisi nagar hai jana

Main aisi nagar dhoondh loongi kahin na kahin

Baton main ho ghul gayee saare geeton ki jaise narmiyan

Aankhon main hon yoon khushi

Moti bhari hon jaisi seepiyan

Jahan goonje prem shehnai

Jahan zindagi le angadaee

Jahan har ghadi ho khushi ki daastan

Aisa ho nagar jahan chimney ka dhooan phaila na ho

Raahon main havaon ka aanchal zara bhi maila na ho

Jahan thande thande ho saaye jahan haule haule neend aaye

Jahan khwaab khwaab lagta ho har sama

Jahan hon pyaar ka mausam

Jahan sab dilon ka ho sangam

Jahan mithi ho sab logon ki zubaan

I was amazed when I heard what she had accomplished. Normally, schools wouldn’t allow that, but DPS was willing to experiment because the song had a meaning that the children were able to relate to. It is a happy hip-hop song about finding Utopia. Shruti converted the concept of the song to suit her class and explained to the children that ‘Utopia’ is a clean, unpolluted and peaceful place where everybody could sing songs and be happy. She made the children practise the song and it became a huge hit. As the concept spread, other classes adopted it and eventually the song was sung in the DPS weekly assembly in front of the entire school. Children began relating the song to preserving the environment, and promoting a clean and hygienic culture. They started keeping their desks clean—a big behavioural change that Shruti brought about in her class.

Shruti says, ‘Children aren’t usually allowed to sing pop songs in school assemblies; that is a strict no-no. However, once the context was explained, the principal and teachers loved it. At the end of the day, it is about preserving our environment. Recently our school joined with four other schools in the area and children participated in an environment march. The same song was sung in the school march too. Once children take to a concept, they relate to it and their mindset alters. That is what I like to do.’

Teachers like Shruti are exploring novel ways of learning and changing the teaching format in schools. Progressive schools in turn are happy to adopt new teaching methods. Shruti’s teaching methods are hardly lecture-based. She teaches her students by conducting quizzes. She recently introduced a geography crossword to the children who were enthralled by this unique way of learning. Shruti says, ‘I don’t know how many schools offer this kind of freedom for teachers to experiment, but in DPS I get to do my own thing. I am happy about it.’ Teachers like Shruti are paving the way to enhance the creative learning process. It is about engaging the human mind. The concept is not esoteric and anyone of us could try different things out. The key word is ‘trying’.

I see a similar change happening in companies too. Regular classroom-based training programmes and lectures are no longer in vogue. Companies are adopting creative ways to train people. Movies like Sholay, Chak De! India, Lagaan and Twelve Angry Men are screened in offices and discussed. Creative learning has picked up significantly. Imagine watching a movie in your office conference room, with a facilitator discussing the salient features and turning points of the movie. Well, that is how it works. Most management learning comes from observing people and how they react to real-life situations. People want learning through experiences and they get it.

It’s what this book is about, after all!

21

Play with Gary Kasparov

Sumita Raghuram is an associate professor in the department of human resources at Penn State University in Philadelphia. I first met her in the spring of 2002 when I was working with MindTree and she was teaching at Fordham University in New York. I was visiting New Jersey and had an opportunity to stay over with Sumita and her husband, Professor Raghu Garud, in their apartment at NYU’s Greenwich village campus.

During my stay with them, we discussed various HR practices and how they were strategically aligned to business. I talked about the difficulty of establishing HR practices in a start-up company where the pulls and pushes of management can be significant.

Sumita listened attentively and said, ‘Why don’t you give a guest lecture to my MBA students at Fordham? They will love it. You can talk about strategic HR in start-up companies.’

I was a little nervous about lecturing before a diverse group of MBA students in a US university. I had given some guest lectures at IIM, Bangalore; since the students already understood the local business context, it had been easier to discuss it with them. In order to lecture students in the US, I needed to build a context first, then explain the strategic intent and talk about the practices associated with it. That was going to be difficult. So I asked Sumita how to go about it and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Prasad, just talk about what you do, that will be sufficient. Students are sharp and they pick up the topics very fast. We all teach theory and give case studies, but that goes only so far. Since you are a practitioner, focus on your experiences and how things get done and they will like it.’

On the day of the guest lecture, I stepped into the classroom and noticed that it was a mix of young and slightly older students. I introduced myself and told them a little about my background. I began the talk by showing some slides to the students and then brought up the concept of how HR function evolves, the challenges it faces and how it strategically partners with business. At the end of the lecture, the students had a lot of questions, which assured me that the class had been received well.

Afterwards, Sumita and I went to dinner in the Village, near Manhattan. Once we sat down Sumita said, ‘I enjoyed the lecture, it had a flow to it and there are some management insights in there. I think we should write a paper on the subject.’

I liked her idea and said, ‘I can provide the content but you will have to write the actual paper. I don’t have the expertise to write management papers.’ She agreed. We decided to write on ‘Human Resource Management a Strategic Partner in Organizational Evolution’. The next few days, we worked almost twelve hours a day discussing content and the evenings were spent walking in the Village or watching a movie. Raghu joined us at times. It was a great learning experience; it gave me insight into how academicians think and the value they bring to the table.

One day, during our discussions I mentioned that we had launched the People Capability Maturity Model, an HR developmental framework introduced by Carnegie Mellon University, and that it was an audacious goal. It required extreme maturity from all functions, like HR, delivery and finance, because no such initiative can be driven and accomplished by one single function. I further added that I was facing resistance from delivery.

Sumita said, ‘I can understand. These initiatives require the organization to mature faster. So, it puts pressure on all the functions to evolve rapidly and that brings resistance. This is what happens in most companies. Depending upon management priorities, one function within the company gains significant prominence and most energy is focused towards it. Very few companies in their evolution can balance all functions across the board. Various functions catch up at different points in time. If one function matures quickly, then it starts encountering resistance because the organization cannot balance extreme mature practices in one function and immature practices in the other. This is called the “functional overlap”. For example, if the company wants to achieve People CMM level 5, then the delivery function has to imbibe a competence framework. In order to do that it needs metric orientation. And for that, processes have to be well defined and people have to adhere to them. So, you see, everything is connected. Unless the delivery function matures, HR cannot successfully establish the People CMM framework. I believe staff functions are created to help business functions and not the other way round.’

I was amazed by her insight. I said, ‘This suggests that the maturity of business functions pretty much determine the best practices of staff functions.’

‘Yes, to an extent. The idea of “relative gap” comes into play here. While there might be difference in grades, the difference in knowledge levels between the best and average students in a school is not too significant. However, there will be a significant difference if we compare the top students of a great school with those of an average school. Similarly in companies, some line functions do extremely well because they start playing with very demanding and mature clients. This helps them get better every day. As a result, they become world-class and demand the best from their staff functions too. Look at it this way: You play chess with me, you learn a bit. You play chess with Gary Kasparov, you will lose in five steps and will find yourself de-motivated and leave the game. So, play with somebody who is reasonably better than you are and learn the game. Then go up a notch and play with someone else whose skill level is higher than yours, and keep repeating this process. Hopefully one day you will give Gary Kasparov a tough fight, and may even win!’

Then she continued and said, ‘Whenever there is resistance from functions, understand the functional overlaps and the relative gaps. Work on them first, and the resistance will automatically reduce.’

In any company, staff functions cannot get ahead of the curve if business functions are not mature enough. There is a push-and-pull relationship between various functions and it is good to have that. The senior management should recognize this and place their energies accordingly in balancing different functions.

We continued our correspondence and discussions. Eventually Dr Sumita Raghuram presented the paper in 2003 at the Southern Management Association’s meeting in Florida. My experience with Dr Raghu Garud and Dr Sumita Raghuram was brief but we built a fantastic relationship where there was mutual learning.

22

Keeping Happy

Raj Kaza is a great friend and currently works as director of HR in Microsoft, Hyderabad. We hadn’t met for some time until recently, when I went to Hyderabad for the Diwali vacation. We sat at the Café Coffee Day outlet near Panjagutta with our sugar-free black teas, and talked.

I saw a big change in Raj. He had lost about twelve kilos and looked in great shape. He told me that he had traded in his big car for a Santro, cleared most of his loans and liquidated a few real- estate assets. He felt free. He laughed more and had a zest for life.

This was not the Raj Kaza I knew a few years back. Raj is a type-A personality, highly motivated and likes to be in control. Type-A people are very competitive and determined to succeed. They like scaling challenges and are avid problem-chasers. They are unsatisfied in an environment that does not challenge them enough. They keep changing jobs in search of the perfect place where they can prove themselves and feel good about their accomplishments.

When I had met Raj a few years back, I told him that he looked healthy, a euphemism for being overweight. He sported a double chin, had a great-paying job, was building his assets and working hard to climb the corporate ladder faster. He travelled a lot, drank umpteen cups of coffee and looked visibly stressed.

Since we all want simple shortcuts and formulae in life, I wanted to know how he had changed so much and so quickly. I wanted to know the secret to his happiness. I asked, ‘VLCC?’

He just laughed and said, ‘No way. Didn’t want to spend money to lose weight.’

I said, ‘Which method, then?’

‘Self-driven,’ he replied. When he saw my amazed expression, he explained, ‘There is no secret recipe. I approached my life holistically. I did a few things which I thought would help me feel better.’

‘Like what?’

‘First I took a call and liquidated some real estate and paid off most of my home loans. That was a big burden off my chest. I was really uncomfortable carrying those big loans on my head.’

I said, ‘But you have a well-paying job, you could have returned the loans slowly. What was the hurry?’

‘No hurry, I just didn’t want to worry about loans; it was as though they were pulling me down. I was beginning to lose interest in my work. I felt the only reason I had to work every month was to service my loan. I didn’t like that. I wanted psychological freedom, so I cleared it. Now, I don’t have any fears about job security. I work because I am passionate about what I do.’

He then smiled and said, ‘I wonder if not having any EMIs increases one’s enthusiasm for work.’

I didn’t know. ‘Probably. What else did you do?’

‘I sold off my big car because I could not park it anywhere easily and the traffic is bad anyway. We are a family of four, so I bought a small car. It is easier to drive and I have no trouble finding parking.’

I asked, ‘Won’t you need a big car when you go on holidays?’

He grinned and said, ‘I get about twenty-one days of vacation every year, ten national holidays and fifty-two weekends. That’s 135 holidays, about one-third of a year. Of this one-third, say, 20 per cent of time, I go on vacations; that’s twenty-six days, out of which we use a car for long drives only half the time. That means, in a year, I need a big car only for thirteen days. I will just rent a car then. Isn’t that simpler than owning a big car for the whole year? From a status perspective, it doesn’t make a difference to me whether I drive a big or a small car. My family is happy and I am happy.’

We drank our tea in silence for a few minutes. A group of foreigners carrying power-packed cellphones entered the café a little later. Raj looked at one of them and said, ‘Look at those cellphones. Each of those has fifty to seventy-five features. Now, how many features do we actually use? Contacts, calling, SMS, calendar, photos, music, alarm, e-mail and games—nine. That means we don’t really need a cellphone with fifty features. But can you find me a cellphone with these nine features in the range of Rs 1000 with a qwerty keyboard and a decent screen? No! Every business is pushing us to consume even when we don’t want to. The more we spend the better it is for the economy. So, if we take credit and are buried under loans, the country will do well. We’re becoming a spending society.’

I said, ‘Basically, you’re on a simplification trip.’

‘No, not on a simplification trip,’ Raj replied. ‘I am on a keeping-happy trip.’

‘Keep your needs basic and life will be peaceful.’

He nodded. ‘The same applies to eating. Keep it basic. We sit at our desks most of the day. We have sedentary lifestyles. We just need half the calories we consume every day. I didn’t join a crash course to lose weight. I just reduced my intake. I thought I would faint if I ate less, but I actually became more alert.’

I said, ‘So, the secret to keeping happy is no loans, a small car and eating less?’

‘Yes, these are good starting points. Happiness is a relative concept. Find out what makes you happy and do it. If you are not happy with your job, quit and do something that you like doing. If you are not happy with the company you keep, move on, make new friends. If you are not happy with the life you are leading, then bring changes to your lifestyle. Happiness is an internal stimulus, irrespective of what happens externally. If you choose to be happy, nobody can stop you. I chose to be happy.’ He continued, ‘There are so many things we can do to be happy. Make it a point to spend more time with the important people in your life. Just like the way we eat to sustain our bodies, we have to take holidays to rejuvenate our minds. Combine Friday with a weekend and get out of town. Pick up a hobby, build a life outside work.’

I said, ‘Yes, easy to say, but implementing is tough.’

‘I am an average guy,’ Raj replied. ‘It’s working for me, I am sure it will work for others. All it needs is a little self-control and people will be a lot happier. Once you start cutting the strings that pull you down, you will automatically soar. Trust me and try it.’

I smiled and said, ‘Yes, I will.’

And I did. The first thing I did was clear all my loans and I truly felt as if there was nobody in the world who could hold me down. Next, I put aside a small amount for emergencies, stopped griping, quit a well-paying job, became a consultant, started writing, and began spending more time with my son; you have no idea how happy I am. Life really is beautiful.

The other day, my friend Zafeer Ahmed told me that he’d bought a house after taking a loan—Rs 50 lakh—from the bank.

‘How will you repay it?’ I asked him.

He said, ‘I have to pay installments for the next twenty years.’

‘So, you will work for the next twenty years.’

He thought for a while and said, ‘I never thought about it. Now you are scaring me.’

‘I am not trying to scare you,’ I reassured him. ‘Make sure you plan in such a way that you repay the loan as quickly as you can … maybe in the next five or seven years.’

Zafeer nodded. ‘Yes, Prasad. That is a very sensible suggestion.’ He has now come up with a plan where he is planning to pay a portion of principal every month and this is in addition to the EMI. Plan it out and make life easier. After all, we all have only one life to laugh, enjoy and make the best of.

Theme 3: Driven by Business Excellence

The people in these stories display amazing business acumen. They can instantly visualize the core of a business proposition, simplify it into understandable parts and take quick decisions, easily differentiating between value propositions and the chaff. Growing products, services and companies is the foremost in their minds. They can define a business strategy, work under pressure and deliver results. When confronted with problems they are able to devise effective strategies to overcome or circumvent them. They are passionate about their business, display high energy and expect the same from people who work with them. Driven by excellence themselves, they inculcate a high-performance culture in their organizations. They are astute people-managers who clearly communicate what is expected from their people, and are quick in showing their appreciation and giving feedback. They work towards an integrated and cohesive approach in winning customers and with every goal, they raise the bar and inspire people to accomplish more.

23

Getting Funded

Dr Ashish Gupta is co-founder of Helion Venture Partners and serves on the boards of Gridstone Research, Jivox, Kirusa, MuSigma, Naukri and SMS Gupshup. He has also co-founded two successful companies—Tavant Technologies and Junglee, which pioneered comparison-shopping on the Internet. He has also worked at Woodside Fund, Oracle Corporation and IBM Research. His investments include Daksh (IBM), Odesk, Obongo (AOL), Speedera (Akamai), MakeMyTrip, Merittrac (Manipal Group) and Kaboodle (Hearst). Ashish also serves on the board of the Kauffman Fellows Program, the leading educational fellowship in venture capital and the Foundation of Excellence that promotes education in India. He is a Kauffman Fellow, has a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from IIT, Kanpur, where he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal. He has authored several patents and publications, and edited Materialized Views: A Collection of Papers on the Theory, Implementation, and Applications of Materialized Views, published by MIT press.

Ashish is down-to-earth, quick to smile and makes you feel completely comfortable. I first met him to discuss a venture proposal. The idea was ahead of its time and given the current market scenario, he advised us against implementing it, a view endorsed by the pilot. In my interactions with him what struck me most was his ability to cut through the superficial problems and address the fundamental issues. So when I began writing this book, I decided to cover his experiences and insights. I wanted to understand how he and his team work, the decisions that lead to investing in early-stage ventures.

Before investing most venture capitalists consider the following parameters:

- Space—Which space does the venture intend operating in? Does this space have growth potential? What are the existing models in this space? Are there existing players in the same space who are successful? Is there an opportunity for one more player? Is this a new space? In India, clean technology, Internet, core technology and mobile applications are areas of interest for most venture capitalists.

- Idea/Business model—What are the merits of the idea? Is there meat to it? How will it succeed? What are the ups and downs of the idea? Has it been tried before or is it completely new? What problem or need is the venture addressing? What is the core business model? Is it a new model? Is it the first of its kind? Why haven’t others tried it before? Is it workable? What is unique about the proposed model? Is the idea ahead of its time? Is it practical, will customers buy the product and service? What has been the experience so far?

- People—Who are the people in the team? Their credentials, their understanding of the model, space, business and idea. While pedigree does not guarantee success, it gives a feel of consistency and could improve the chances of getting funded. Can this team scale? Will the venture capitalists be comfortable working with this team?

- Business plan—While the business plan is quite important, often, it is not given as much priority in the initial stages. Once a venture goes past an evaluation of the space, idea, business model, etc., only then are business financials looked at. Venture capitalists recognize that ideas evolve with time and business plans can change, hence broad numbers and growth potential is looked at. Ashish says, ‘At the time of Helion’s investment in SMS Gupshup, we didn’t have a clear picture of the revenue model, but SMS Gupshup had a large community of 8–9 million people and it was growing at almost 10 per cent every month. That was a great indicator for us. Now they are roughly making $2,50,000 every month through mobile advertising and they still have to grow so much more. In this case, for valuation purposes, a high premium was placed on consistent user traffic. Now, assume that Helion is evaluating the laundromat business, in which case, funding will depend upon revenue generation; profitability and the business plan will be considered at the time of evaluation. Depending on each case and the kind of business, a method of evaluation is adopted.’

- Amount of funding needed—According to Ashish, ‘In early-stage funding it is difficult to invest beyond $5–7 million. As a general rule of thumb, early-stage post-money venture valuations range from $3 million to $6 million and the investment ranges from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Valuation is dependent on several factors and there is no such thing as a standardized format for arriving at the perfect valuation.’ Most venture capitalists don’t want to reduce the founder stake to such an extent that the founder loses interest. If founders lose interest, then the company has to be run by the venture capitalists and that is not their core competence. Most of them believe that after multiple rounds of dilution, at the time of exit, all the founders put together should have at least a 25-per cent stake else it will not motivate them enough.

On an average Helion gets about fifty proposals every month, of which around fifteen are called for presentations and only seven are taken through multiple decision rounds. Barely 1 per cent of the proposals received convert into funding. While it may not be easy to get funded, for the right space, idea and team, it is not difficult either.

If identification of potential opportunities is difficult, raising money to disburse on various opportunities is equally tough. Early on, in 2005, when funds were being raised, Ashish and his team had to convince investors about their ability to generate returns. Dr Ashish says, ‘Forty per cent Internal Rate of Return (IRR), year-on-year, yields ten times the investment return in seven years.’ Most American venture capitalists apply the 33:33:33 formula—33 per cent of investments lose money, 33 per cent return the capital and 33 per cent give five to seven times the investments in as many years. This is how the venture capital industry thrives. However, Ashish believes that in India these metrics are still evolving.

The unwritten rules which most venture capitalists follow are:

- Don’t invest if you are not comfortable with the space.

- Don’t invest if the fundamentals are good but the team is not up to the mark.

- Look for a track record, growth or something compelling in the proposition that indicates success.

- Avoid deals that require large investments over a long gestation period.

- If the deal is large, try to syndicate with multiple partners.

I wanted to understand the common mistakes that companies typically make and Ashish was happy to give some pointers.

‘The biggest problem in the Indian entrepreneurial setup,’ Ashish explained, ‘is that founders do not know when to let go. They often quote Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison who founded and also ran the companies they started. The reasoning is flawed. They are exceptions. It is like taking the example of the one-odd person who survived after jumping off a cliff. One person’s survival doesn’t make an example for everybody to jump off a cliff and then survive too. The skills needed to start a company are so different from the skills needed to grow and nurture a company. Though some do make it, most founders find it difficult to transition and that is when the company starts to stale. Also, founders relate to emotional and personal loyalty of early team-members and continue to provide roles and opportunities in the organization, despite knowing their limitations. By doing this, they are doing a big disservice to themselves, the people they are accommodating and the company. Everybody has a role to play in the different stages of the evolution of a company. Just because somebody is a good technical architect doesn’t mean that the person will make a great VP of engineering. Often founders believe that if they have bigger equity, then they should be running the company. That is a cardinal mistake. It is best for founders to let professionals run and achieve results. That will truly give life to the venture they started. It takes time for a business model to emerge. In the first two to three years, people try figuring out how to make revenues; only after that will the company stabilize a bit. So, one should have patience. Pushing oneself too hard for too long also will not yield adequate results.’

Ashish gave the example of Dhiraj Rajaram, CEO of MuSigma. Apparently, in the initial days Dhiraj focused on generating customers and what it took to deliver. However, in the last few years he has transitioned into a seasoned CEO who talks about attrition management, leadership development, organization culture, etc. According to Ashish, ‘The transition is important. Knowing when to do what is the key. Another example of this is Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip. He scaled from detail orientation to strategic perspective. He is one of the few people who has managed transition of his team well and inducted new people into senior management.’

While the investment climate has substantially improved, venture capitalists are extremely careful in funding. Ashish has an interesting way of depicting the risk carried by venture capitalists when they come in as early-stage investors. The table below is categorized on known and unknown parameters and based on his personal experience.

Work category

Known per cent

Unknown per cent

Engineering

95

5

Marketing

50

50

Sales

25

75

Early-stage investing

5

95

Mezzanine-stage investing

25

75

Private-equity investing

50

50

According to him, engineers have better knowledge of their work area and predictability is higher. For venture capitalists, the risks are higher in early-stage investing. The known percentage drops drastically. Private-equity investment relatively carries lesser risk because investors come in at a later stage when the business has started delivering. The risk-reward ratio is also directly proportional. The higher the risk, the potentially higher is the stake and reward.

If you want early-stage venture-capital funding, remember the following:

- Choose the right venture capitalist. You must feel comfortable with the people and their style of working.

- Be clear about your objectives—how much money do you want and for what? Don’t go to a venture capitalist with a half-hearted idea or approach. You will be wasting time and the opportunity.

- Make sure you understand the space, idea, metrics and the business plan.

- Don’t go to venture capitalists to convince them. Go to them to have a meaningful discussion.

- Venture capitalists recognize that revenue streams and business models evolve as you grow the business. They don’t expect you to know everything on day one.

- Listen to their inputs carefully; they bring a third-party view to your business and often give good guidance. The guidance is as useful as the money is.

- You can always negotiate valuations for your business as long as your perspective is in the reasonable range. If it is beyond their range, venture capitalists will not fund you because their returns will diminish in the long run.

- It is a two-way street. The venture capitalists need you as much as you need them. They are here to fund you and grow their investments.

- Venture capitalists are partners in your business. They are good at giving suggestions and ideas, but they cannot run the business for you. At the end of the day, you have to take decisions and deliver on business objectives.

I consult with quite a few start-up companies and within the first few discussions have an idea of where they are heading. More often than not, entrepreneurs seem to run after control and certainty and don’t seem to seize opportunities that come knocking. The biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs is overcoming their passion and looking at the business perspective dispassionately. Founders, especially in early-stage investing, should grab as much money they can lay their hands on and let go of equivalent stake; too much haggling leads nowhere. Often sales don’t really materialize as envisaged and the extra money in the bank will help stay afloat.

In summary, in a start-up, founders should learn to grab two things—money and customers! The rest will fall in place.

24

Go Collect Money

In August 1995, I was working as territory manager at Wipro’s regional office, selling hardware, software and network equipment. Revathi Kasturi, the general manager, was responsible for the operations in the south. She did three things—she smiled, asked a lot of questions and assigned work. If you also smiled, answered well and delivered on objectives, you survived. And we did. Life couldn’t be any simpler.

My job had several parts, two of which—selling systems and collecting money—were very significant. Often we collected 10–20 per cent advance while booking the order. However at times, in our zeal to conclude a deal, orders were booked without any advance payment. These kinds of orders always ended up in what I call the ‘PIP’ (Purchased, Installed and Payment not realized) category. Collecting money for such orders was a nightmare. The standard response from most accounts departments was, ‘Come back next week and your cheque will be ready.’ And week after week our salespeople got the same runaround. Finally, when the heat from the boss became unbearable, we would sit in front of the accountant and not budge till the cheque was released. The probability of the cheque being issued was directly proportional to how surly we were.

Extracting payment from government offices was even more difficult. At times, our sales executives spent days following up on payments, without success. During those days, most government orders did not pay any advance. The request for quotations was based on tenders and payment was always tied to the delivery and satisfactory installation of the product. Unless we expressed our intent in no uncertain terms—say, ‘Pay, or the salesperson will stab you!’—the accounts department took forever to clear payments.

During my initial days in sales, my customers were predominantly from export-oriented units, mostly software companies. I hardly interacted with government customers. My work was on track, orders trickled in and I smiled often. However, one day, all that changed. Revathi returned from a meeting with Ram Kumar, VP, sales and marketing, and said, ‘Team, we are doing all right on sales, but our collections are quite low, especially from the government sector. I will allocate two government accounts to each one of you and I want you to make sure that we collect the money in the next couple of weeks. This does not mean I am reducing your sales targets. You will continue to deliver as usual on sales and ensure collections too. That is what great salespeople are made of. Stretch and collect. We need to keep the cash coming.’

I had no clue how to deal with government customers. I had to collect about Rs 20 lakh from Bangalore University and Rs 10 lakh or so from Gulbarga University, both of whom hadn’t paid up in over six months. I got all the pending invoices from our accounts department and headed to Bangalore University, which was closer. I had decided to tackle Gulbarga University later because I would have to travel out of town for that.

On enquiring, I figured that the systems had been delivered to Professor Balakrishna, head of the mechanical engineering department at University Vishweshwarayya College of Engineering (UVCE), and the payment had to be effected from Kengeri, Bangalore University. I went all the way to Kengeri, to the accounts department where I showed them the invoices. They flatly refused to pay, stating that there was no ‘expressed intent’ and that I had to get the invoices signed by Professor Balakrishna before they could release the payment. Like any salesperson, I was dismissed unceremoniously.

I went to back to the UVCE campus and met with Professor Balakrishna’s secretary, Ms Rubaina. She told me that he was in a class and I had to wait. Several hours later, the professor entered his office and Rubaina informed him that a salesperson from Wipro had come to meet him.

Professor Balakrishna called me in, looked at me and said, ‘I am disgusted! I will not meet you, go away.’

I didn’t say anything; I just lowered my head and stood there, looking at the floor. I had decided to keep an open mind, listen to what the professor had to say, calm him down, understand his problems, solve them and get the money.

He said, ‘I said, please leave.’

I looked up and said timidly, ‘Sir, I have come to solve your problems.’

‘I know why you are here … you have come to collect money.’

I didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore. You shouldn’t deceive your customers, so I said, ‘You’re right, sir. I have come to collect money, but I am not asking for it right away. First, I want to understand and solve your issues. If you feel that your problems have been sorted out to your satisfaction, I will ask for the money. Please give me five minutes, sir, and I will take notes.’

I suppose he liked my candour. For a professor, taking notes meant sincerity. It establishes a teacher–student relationship, which, in the present circumstances, was far better than a customer—vendor relationship. He said, ‘I will give you only five minutes. Sit down.’

I took a seat and quickly opened my notepad.

‘You guys delivered and installed the systems. Within a week of installation, the server started malfunctioning. After we informed the customer-support department, an engineer came, did something, made it work and left. The server stopped working within a fortnight. This time your engineer came and said that there was nothing wrong with the server, but the cables were faulty. Apparently repairing cables was not his responsibility. So I asked my accounts department to stop payment. I think the server was hanging because complex algorithms were being run on it. I am not sure your server is sized right for our requirements.’

‘Is it working now sir?’

He laughed and said, ‘We took it out and installed another server so we won’t be paying you anymore.’

I asked, ‘Sir, is there any problem with any other equipment?’

He pointed a few issues with some LAN cards, some wiring issues, etc., but nothing major.

After our meeting, I headed straight to the customer-support department and arranged for an engineer to go over to UVCE.

I told the engineer, ‘Please, don’t ask any questions. Just solve whatever problems the customer has. If there are any issues, call me.’

Once the minor issues had been taken care of, I met with Professor Balakrishna again and said, ‘Sir, except for the server all the other equipment is working fine now. Would you consider releasing the payment for the equipment and retaining an appropriate amount for the server until that issue is also sorted out?’

He replied, ‘Sorry, Prasad, I cannot pay you anything until the server issue is sorted out.’

For a moment, I didn’t know how to respond. Then, ‘Sir, we have recently launched a new server, superior in performance. Please let us upgrade your server at minimal cost.’

‘Come back with a solution and we will talk,’ the professor replied.

I briefed Revathi about the situation and asked her to join me in my next meeting with Professor Balakrishna.

At the meeting, Revathi went straight to the point and said, ‘Sir, as a vendor, if we make a mistake, we are willing to rectify it, but if our payments for services that are operational are withheld, it becomes difficult for us to manage. Since you are a valued customer, we will be glad to upgrade your server at minimal cost. I am happy to look at a discount if you would give us a cheque for the entire amount.’

Professor Balakrishna thought for a moment and then said, ‘All right, I will issue the payment in full if you agree to upgrade the server at no extra cost.’

Revathi looked at me and read my mind. It was not a bad bargain considering that a huge sum would be released immediately and it was in our best interests to maintain a strong relationship with the university. She feigned momentary hesitation before giving in to his request.

As soon as we stepped out of the professor’s office, Revathi said, ‘Where are you going now? Go up, get the payment note, go to Kengeri and get the cheque.’

I was a little taken aback; I had thought she was going to praise me for a job well done. Anyway, I took the payment note and followed up with Kengeri for almost a week, but I couldn’t get them to release the cheque.

A few days later, Revathi met me in the office parking lot and asked, ‘Have we got the cheque?’

‘No, Revathi, the accounts department in Kengeri has not issued it yet.’

She just looked at me, smiled and said, ‘All right, Prasad. In that case, come to the office only when you get the cheque. What do you say?’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Of course,’ she smiled. ‘What makes you think I am not?’

The next day onwards, I went from home to Kengeri and back, without much success. Finally, I pleaded with Professor Balakrishna and his secretary called up the university and asked the accounts department to release the cheque. When I made it back to the office, Revathi asked, ‘Has the money been credited in the account?’

I protested, ‘Revathi! We just got the cheque.’

‘Good, anything else?’

I shook my head and went back to my desk.

After a few days, she walked up to me and said, ‘Hey, Prasad, the money is in. Great job, appreciate it. Hope you’ve started working on Gulbarga, too?’

With Revathi, appreciation, feedback and advice was instant; you didn’t have to wait for the biannual appraisal cycle. She is wonderful with setting up and managing expectations of team members.

This experience taught me a few things:

- It is not really difficult to deal with people working in government departments. They are good but are deeply tied down by protocol and bureaucracy. So, when dealing with the government, make sure your paperwork is perfect.

- Forge a relationship of trust with people, not just in the government sector, but elsewhere as well, otherwise you will find it difficult to get your work done.

- If you want to get paid make sure that the customer doesn’t have any issues. Unless you have sorted out the customer’s problems first, do not expect payment. It won’t come through.

- Regular follow-up is the key to getting your payments. You have to impress upon the customer that getting paid is your right and not a favour.

Working with Revathi was a wonderful experience. She supported whenever it was needed, but also made us better at our jobs by demanding the best from us. But most importantly, she taught me the significance of collecting money. What is the point of selling products if we don’t get the money on time? After all, making profits is just as important in a business as creating and selling products.

Revathi Kasturi is currently founder and CEO at LAQSH Job Skills Academy and earlier worked as MD, Asia West, for Novell.

25

Outstanding Woman Manager 2009

When MindTree started in August 1999, employees were joining in droves, and I was looking for a bank which would not only help open savings accounts but also service other personal financial needs of employees such as net banking, personal loans, home loans, vehicle loans, trading accounts, etc. We wanted the best interest rates and an integrated solution for employee needs with a single point of contact to resolve all queries. We met with several banks, many of whom expressed an interest in our account. But surprisingly, most banks could not offer us a single proposal encompassing all our needs. We were expected to deal with one person from the savings bank division, another for loans and a third for trading accounts—different people for different functions. I even approached some bank managers, but the problem could not be addressed.

One of the banks that did send us a detailed proposal did not offer discounts on interest rates, which it gave to other larger companies. I met with the manager and asked him why he wasn’t giving us the same rates as some of his premier customers.

The manager replied, ‘But they are our premier customers, whereas we are just starting with you.’

‘I agree, but shouldn’t the premier group also include customers who have immense promise?’

‘Reality is very different from a promise, sir.’

‘Your bank will gain significantly in the long term. You will have savings, loans and trading accounts with thousands of employees in just a couple of years.’

The manager was firm. ‘Sorry, but we won’t be able to offer better rates than what we have.’

I couldn’t understand why, with comparable salaries, an employee working in a bigger company would get a better home-loan interest rate than an employee working in a smaller company. It just didn’t make sense. Actually, I was slightly frustrated by the whole thing. I knew very well that he could have taken a judgement call if he had really wanted our business.

A few days later, I visited ICICI bank to see the branch manager personally. The bank was packed with people and I began to wonder—Are they Net-enabled? Do they have phone banking? Can they serve our needs? Will our employees also have to wait in such queues? Is this really the bank we want to deal with?

Nevertheless, I entered the bank and met with Asha Mathen. I explained to her that we were a small organization but we were growing and would be a big company eventually. I said that we were looking for somebody with whom we could have a lasting relationship, who was willing to go the extra mile in helping us as we evolved, and offer us the best market rates—an integrated solution and a single point of contact to solve all our issues.

‘I am your single point of contact,’ Asha replied instantly, ‘and I will send you an integrated proposal within seventy-two hours. I believe in your growth story and intend on having your business. I will do my best to get you the rates you want.’

I liked what she said, but I was not sure if she could deliver. Most managers I had met had said the same thing. ‘That is nice to hear. If you don’t mind, I have a few questions. Your bank is brimming with people, how will you service us? Do you have Net-banking? What about phone-banking?’

Asha smiled and replied, ‘Sir, don’t worry about it. You need not come to the bank; we will have representatives at your office every month who will help with the paperwork. We do have phone-banking, but I assure you, you won’t need it. Our Net-banking services are in the nascent stages of evolution, but I promise that it is one of our most important strategic initiatives and we will ensure its implementation by the end of the financial year.’

I just smiled and nodded. I didn’t say anything because I had promised that we would grow to increase the business relationship and she had promised to get the Net-banking going. I thanked her for her time and said I would wait for her proposal.

At the end of three days I still hadn’t got the proposal, nor heard from the bank. I hadn’t expected otherwise, anyway. But, on the afternoon of the fourth day, I got a call from Asha Mathen.

‘Mr Prasad, I am sorry for not getting back to you in time. However, your proposal is ready. Can I come and discuss it with you?’

I agreed, and she came to our office that same evening. She had a comprehensive proposal with her and she took me through the entire range of features the bank was offering. I was impressed; she had met all the criteria on loans, interest rates, opening savings bank accounts, etc.

‘Asha, how did you manage it?’

‘Sir, I took the responsibility of making sure you get the best deal possible. So, the last couple of days, I spent time with our other vertical heads and ensured that we give you the best. I believe in your story; I am sure you will grow. As a customer it should not matter to you how the bank works internally. It is my job to serve you and ensure things work.’

This was music to my ears. I thanked her for her efforts and promised to revert quickly. I discussed the proposal with Rostow who managed finance and is one of the co-founders of the company. He gave his approval to the proposal, and our relationship with ICICI Bank began soon after.

I was confident that Asha Mathen would do well in her job. She was one of the very few people who understood how to service corporate customers. She knew the importance of having an integrated solution and a single interface with the client.

From a humble start of fifteen employee accounts with MindTree, ICICI has probably built a business relationship of at least 5000 savings accounts, if not more. Assuming that the average annual salary in IT-application-service companies is $10,000 per person, it means Asha has created a $50-million per annum recurring account. That is the power of taking gut-based calls. She wanted our business, believed in our growth potential and made a decision. Very few people have that kind of intuitive thought. I think people should take calls in life and push the boundaries. Unless one does that, big relationships are difficult to establish.

Asha Mathen currently works as VP of Deutsche Bank and was presented with the award for ‘Outstanding Woman Manager 2009’ by Ms Kanimozhi, MP, at the Madras Management Association’s Women Managers’ Convention, 2009.

26

Appeared Matriculation, but Failed (AMBF)

Pankaj Singh got an MBA in sales and marketing from the University of Cincinnati and currently works as category (product) head for men’s apparel at Reliance Trends, managing about thirty stores across the country. He says, ‘I am a big fan of Kishore Biyani’s book, It Happened in India: The Story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian Consumer.’ Retailing is nothing but buying and selling, a form of trading. You have vendors who supply goods, sales people in the store who sell goods and the rest is logistics.

Retail is big in India. Assuming that 400 million Indians spend 30 per cent of their per capita at retail stores (roughly Rs 10,000 per household), the industry is conservatively worth $100 billion. Since the Indian government does not allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, international brands like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and TESCO are entering the country through joint ventures. At the same time, companies like IBM, Accenture, EDS, Infy and Wipro are setting up large practices to address the need for retail analytics.

Pankaj says, ‘As category head, the kind of data I need is incredible. I need to know which brand is selling in which store for what price and whether my sales have gone up or down compared to the last quarter and last year. I need strong analytics-based systems. My whole sourcing strategy depends on analytics, as does my format mix. Having this data on my fingertips is key for real-time decision-making.’ Analysis has shown that the biggest cost in retailing is leasing the space, therefore, all retailing metrics—sales per square feet, margins per square feet, stock turns (number of times the stock moved in a given space in a given time), footfall drivers (the ‘must-keep goods’ that attract customers)—and measurements are space denominated.

Pankaj says, ‘In the apparel world, India is very different. There are more men’s brands than women’s. Women still buy based on taste and experience from single-format shops. The brands for women have not evolved as much. Take saris for instance. You probably will not see them in big-format stores or malls like Shoppers Stop or Lifestyle. Women buy saris in speciality shops like Nalli or Chandana Brothers. But, although I can’t back it up with data, I believe women pick up almost 60–70 per cent of men’s apparel! Women are experiential shoppers. If we map their movements on the store floor, we won’t find a pattern. They move based on experience, irrespective of whether they want to buy the item or not. But men are different. They move in straight lines. They usually have a predetermined list of items which they need and they just go to those shelves, pick up what they want, pay and get out. In short, women experience and buy, whereas men pick and pay. I might be sounding sexist, but these are practical observations—a woman shopper in a large retail store is a boon, as is an indecisive male shopper, because he often ends up buying more. Of course, there are women who buy just what they want and leave and men who stick to the retail shops like glue. However, these are some points that we take into consideration when we plan a mall and decide what to display. Restaurants in a shopping mall are a big draw, but margins are razor thin. Why? Because men and children simply wait in the restaurants while women shop. Just go and observe, run statistics and you will get the data. So, as a retailer, I try my best to ensure that customers spend a lot of time in the mall. The longer they stay, the higher my sales.’

There are two critical roles in a retail chain: Vendors who sell goods to retail shops and retail salespeople who sell the products to customers. The relationship with vendors becomes extremely important and Pankaj says, ‘I learnt vendor management from my previous manager Mr Sriram Srinivasan. He always treated his vendors well, never making them feel that they were any less than his most valued customers. The vendor’s time was respected and their commitments honoured. Once I was busy with some paperwork and could not interact with my vendors. Mr Srinivasan called me and said, “Pankaj, paperwork is important, but without a strong relationship with vendors what is the use of paperwork? Go, take your vendors out for lunch.” This training helped me establish strong vendor relationships.’

While working with Arvind Mills, Pankaj once went to the Charmas store in Hyderabad and was amazed by the atmosphere. The place was always lively and customers flocked to the counters throughout the year. Pankaj believes that Charmas was the first multiformat retail store in India. During one of his visits he met with Captain Pestonji, the owner.

Pankaj asked Pestonji, ‘How do you manage the buzz of activity throughout the year?’

Pestonji smiled and replied, ‘I don’t. Look at the boys who are manning the sales counters, they manage the buzz and activity. If you go behind our store, you will find the people who deal with the vendors; they are the ones who buy the right product and manage the buzz. Do you know what AMBF means? It means ‘appeared for matriculation, but failed’. Most of my salesboys belong to this category. They need jobs, they are passionate, and they want to live a good life. So, they work hard and sell the products. I tell them, “Remember, your families depend on the success of this shop. Do whatever it takes to run the shop and the shop will keep your family going.” They give it their best and in return, we take care of them and their families. They all know each others’ families; it is a very closely knit group. This shop belongs to them as much as it belongs to us. They improvise continuously at selling. Almost every employee has been with us for fifteen years or more. Pankaj, if you want to be in retailing, then remember to strengthen the point of sale.’ Today, Charmas is a pan-Andhra brand with stores in all major towns.

Pankaj took Pestonji’s advice very seriously. He was working as the sales head of south India for Arrow and was in charge of about fourteen stores. Every time he visited any of these cities or stores, he made sure that he spent a good amount of time talking to his salespeople.

He says, ‘In some cases, I spent hours training people. Arrow is an expensive corporate brand. Customers who come to browse through the Arrow collection don’t want in-your-face salespeople. The process has to be subtle. When a customer asks a question, the salesperson should be able to answer intelligently and provide options. I taught subtle marketing to most of these salespeople. For me waiters in five-star hotels were the benchmark. They serve without being noticed. There is a sense of style attached to the sale. It comes with practice and experience. Over the years I have seen that in high-end stores, if the salespeople are good, the sales can easily double. But a bad sales team can just as easily kill a great store. I always look for three things in my salespeople—a positive attitude, conversational skills and strong contextual skills.’

If you want to climb the retail career ladder, then you need strong competencies in retail analytics, vendor management, hi-touch training for your salespeople, a good sense of logistics and a strong understanding of commercial dynamics. By the way, most of these competencies are not taught in any B-school. Only a few figure this out and get going.

27

Recruiting and Recognizing A-players

During the thick of transformation and expansion of Misys captive in India, reviewing and attracting talent in the top rung of management, especially director-level positions and below, was a strategic imperative. That was when we encountered the four big monsters that plague Indian software development companies—titles, promotions, compensation and specialization.

Titles are a dichotomy in the Indian software industry. Campus graduates with minimal experience join companies with titles like associate director or client partner programs when in reality the big title doesn’t mean anything. The war for software talent is bitter and since companies have a cap on affordability they adopt the policy of assigning fancy titles to entice employees to join and stick on. Once employees get used to a fancy title they tend to stay on in the company even if their career is not leading anywhere and, ultimately, this results in frustration. The visible signs of the ‘title syndrome’ are low employee-satisfaction and no attrition, especially at senior levels. However, managements ignore these symptoms, choosing instead to applaud the fact that they have been able to retain top talent. Loyalty is rewarded, long-service awards are doled out and employees get watches and holiday packages. This rot affects the organization drastically and within a short period of time, domain, development and delivery expertise is eroded.

The second problem is promotions. Although there is no significant change in job content, people expect to be promoted once every eighteen to twenty-four months and look for appropriate changes in their titles and compensation packages. If they aren’t promoted, employees feel that they are not appreciated and blame the HR department. But from a value-addition perspective, often the difference is not discernable even after multiple promotions. As a result, software companies end up with multiple levels, which allows for periodic promotions. In some companies the average number of levels from CEO to software engineers is as high as twelve.

The third big issue is compensation. Everybody expects a compensation hike of roughly 15–20 per cent every year. In addition, if a person changes jobs, the expected compensation increase is another 20–30 per cent. That means, a financially astute person can make two moves in roughly three years and increase his compensation by 100 per cent. No investment in the world gives this kind of return and that is why company costs are bursting at the seams and every CEO is under intense pressure to move work to low-cost locations like Manila, Russia, Bucharest and Latin America. As country manager, every year I had to negotiate the ‘India budget’ with our global finance and development heads. I am not sure how long this can go on. Organizational pyramids are getting so much wider at the bottom that the quality of output is bound to suffer.

The fourth issue to tackle is the lack of specialization. Most graduates do not want to specialize, aiming instead to become people managers within five to seven years from the time they get their graduate degrees. Once they become managers, they start losing touch with technical and domain skills. What can one do when managements of most companies want to stretch the bottom of the pyramid so much that youngsters end up becoming people managers very quickly? The question is what will happen ten years down the line? As long as the software industry continues to recruit more people at the entry level, more and more managers will probably be needed and there will be multiple layers of managers just to manage people and programmes.

However, multinational product companies operate in a very different way. Unlike application services companies, they don’t add people in large numbers every year. An average captive with 1200-1500 people might add about 200–400 people a year in development roles and that is really stretching quite a bit. Product multinationals need people who specialize, understand domain and have expertise in product development. In a product company, salaries tend to be slightly higher and there are about six to eight levels between a fresh graduate and the country head. It takes a long time to reach senior levels, especially positions like director and vice-president, which have a global impact.

Given the above environment and the context of our own transformation, we had a huge challenge. We had to acquire the best talent within a reasonable compensation framework and with fewer levels and conservative titles.

Mike Sainsbury, who was heading global development operations, discussed the hiring strategy during one of the steering-committee meetings and came up with a suggestion. He said, ‘We cannot beat the market on compensation, levels and promotions. So, let us put our efforts in hiring A-players.’

Mike described A-players as people who:

- Have a great attitude, are honest, straightforward and stretch to deliver.

- Are not overtly concerned about compensation, levels, promotions, etc.

- Are genuinely interested in creating products.

- Are comfortable working in a global matrix organization.

- Specialize in domain knowledge or project and program management or technical architecture.

Manoj Kumar, who was heading global resource management, has three great strengths, viz. passion to achieve, domain knowledge and capacity to manage volumes. I realized this within the first few meetings and goaded him to work on hiring. Manoj readily agreed and along with his team of senior managers, Anil Shenoy, Raghava Kumar, Krishna Mohan, Sanjay Garg and Ajayan Konthoth, and Navin Shivdasani, staffing head for India, put together a simple sourcing strategy:

- Referrals—Each top performer refers one top performer.

- Linkedln—Train the recruitment team to source profiles from Linkedln. Training included how to approach potential senior hires, how to talk to them and, most importantly, how to entice them.

- Consultants—Hire professional recruiters. For some very specific senior-level positions, we engaged TMG Consulting, a recruiting firm that understood how product multinationals worked and briefed them on our requirements.

- Communication—Give a brief presentation to every candidate, informing them about the company, our strategy and how we intend to change the game.

- Sieving—Call candidates for multiple rounds of interviews. It turned out they appreciated the importance being given to the roles they were being shortlisted for and felt important.

- Branding—Set standards for recruiting. We publicized internally that we were looking for the best, automatically raising the bar for recruiting standards.

- Seriousness—Set the tone of the company in the interviews. Candidates who came for interviews were told that we were looking for serious players and that added to the dynamics.

Manoj passionately informed every potential candidate, ‘If you are looking for title, promotion, compensation, etc., don’t waste your time. However, if you are looking to leave your signature behind, then let us talk. We are looking for people who can create value.’

I also spent a lot of time talking to candidates who applied. Krishnaswamy Subbarao from Infosys was one of them. When I first interviewed him, I did not think he would fit the bill and told him as much. Krish said, ‘Prasad, I think I fit the bill, but let us see how the subsequent rounds go and then take a call.’ I was impressed with his confidence and decided to ask some of the senior executives to interview him. Eventually, after several more rounds of interviews, an offer was extended to Krish and I invited him and his family to come over to Misys. Krish liked what he experienced and said, ‘Prasad, you are one of the main reasons I am considering joining Misys. I hope you are staying for some time.’ I mentioned that I gave my word to Mike Lawrie, CEO of Misys, and I was here to help manage the India operations through the big transition and make a difference, and he readily agreed to come on board.

After he joined, Krish referred N.L. Subramaniam and Anish Purkayastha; the former is a serious domain player and the latter a strong program-manager. Some time later Krish and Manoj recruited Rengarajan, a great program-manager. Krish’s close friend Prasanna Raghavendra an Infy veteran heading Enterprise SAAS (software as a service), heard about what we were doing and applied. Prasanna joined as head of the BankFusion platform. Prasanna said, ‘I wouldn’t have left Infy otherwise. I came because I wanted to leave my signature behind in building the next-generation banking platform.’ Around that time, Vineet Prasani, development head of treasury markets in India, referred Anil Shenoy, a solid operations and program player from GE. Manoj interviewed him and extended an offer soon after. Anil enticed his classmate, Dhruva Kadaba, to join the company. Dhruva agreed and worked extensively on universal banking platform and key client rollouts.

In the midst of this, one day, a candidate visited me and said, ‘I am considering heading the finance shared services for India captive.’ Apparently, for the past twenty years he had been working for a multinational in the US and was returning to India on an expat compensation. During my one-hour chat with him I noticed that all his questions were on accommodation, children’s schools, clubs, places to visit around Bangalore, etc. There was not a single question about the company or the role he intended to play. Uncomfortable with his lack of interest in the job, I informed the global India sponsor that we could get better talent in India at a significantly lower cost. Fortunately, they accepted my suggestion and decided to hire locally, allowing me to extend the offer to Manish Gurnani, who joined from Accenture. Manish began his career as a shoe salesman; ‘I used to thank God that I had a job,’ he says. Within six months of joining, Manish restructured the team, streamlined processes and made significant inroads in bringing global payables and receivables to Bangalore. In my opinion, when it comes to process mapping and transitioning work from high-cost locations to low-cost centres, there is no better person than Manish. With aplomb he steered his team to systematically transition large complex processes to the India centre within a year of his joining.

While the recruitment process was still on, R.S. Sankar, who heads customer support, came over and said, ‘Prasad, I want to bring Subhashini to work on program frameworks.’ Subhashini had left Misys to join IBM some time back and was interested in returning to the fold. I readily agreed and Subhashini was extended an offer. Simultaneously, Anil Nadig was extended an offer in New York to work on program management and he joined the team in Bangalore. With the addition of these two, Sankar fortified the team, which already had Abrar Sarguroh and Rajan R.S., both top-class program heads. Customer service maintained the highest level of customer satisfaction and the net-promoter score zoomed.

Our strategy worked and within a few months we had a team of A-players at the helm of the India operations. Getting the first few A-players is very critical in any transformation strategy. When an A-player joins a company, other A-players take cognizance and start asking questions. A-players attract the best talent and bring more of their kind with them. A-players always try to recruit people who are better than them because they realize that their success depends upon the success of their direct reports and their peers. They simply cannot tolerate mediocrity and automatically raise the performance bar and push people to deliver. A-players create conflict in the organization and ensure continuous action around them. They can’t bear to see big cost structures; they slash them and bring better processes to the table. And although they keep abreast of the changing dynamics of the company, A-players keep away from organization politics; they are only concerned with what is best for the company.

A-players are often expensive, but they justify their compensation very quickly by adding disproportionate value. I believe that internal parity-driven compensation structures are good for 90 per cent of the company, but for the exceptional 10 per cent employees, companies must create special packages, else getting and retaining A-players will be tough. If you want the best people to work for the company, give them the best you can afford, else don’t attempt to hire the best. A-players will easily see through half-hearted attempts and will not waste their time with you.

It is also important to recognize and commend A-players for their achievements. For the impact to be felt, the appreciation must be genuine, personal and direct. Reproduced below is an e-mail Mark Winterburn (VP, global banking business unit) wrote to Dhruva Kadaba.

From: Winterburn, Mark

To: Kadaba, Dhruva

Subject: You!

Dhruva, I have never seen so many congratulations about one project—so we must be doing something right! Outside of all of that noise I wanted to congratulate, and thank, you. Put simply it wouldn’t have happened without you, so I hope you are personally getting a buzz out of this. I really like the energy, the passion and the commitment you bring—we could do with more people like you; you are a real asset to this company. (Let me buy you a beer in a couple of weeks when I am in Bangalore).

Regards,

Mark

Clearly, it takes an A-player to recruit and recognize another. Recruitment is about attracting the right talent into the organization, not just adding numbers to fill positions, though unfortunately it has become so in most application-software companies in India.

Personally, I am elated that the top management at Misys had the vision and was able to execute on it, especially in creating the high-performance culture as part of its transformation effort. Unless such a pervasive culture is created, it cannot attract A-players. People like Mike, Manoj, Manish, Krish, Sankar, Prasanna, Dhruva and a whole host of others thrive because they love what they are doing and because they are encouraged to do more!

28

Sales is a Mind Game

I believe nobody sells better than Pramodh Menon, senior VP, south India and Sri Lanka, CISCO.

In 1995 I was job-rotated to sales where I was a total novice when it came to technology and selling technical products. But the management thought otherwise and felt that bright MBAs could sell anything as long as they had the aptitude. Pramodh and I worked as territory managers in Wipro’s regional office at Victoria Road, selling hardware, software and networking equipment to export-oriented units, mostly IT companies and MNC captives. Apart from the two of us, the regional office had several other sales executives too—Pawan, Praveen, Rajiv and Ajay. Pawan was an engineer and used his charm to sell. Ajay had an MBA in marketing and sold by asking questions. Praveen was focused on the education segment and sold by building relationships. Rajiv managed government accounts and for him, if the sale happened, it was a big one; else for months he would not have a single sale. But, the best of the lot was Pramodh. He had done an MBA and had some prior sales experience. He was methodical in his approach. He studied his customers in depth, understood their profile and knew their business well, and he was well versed in our products and their features. Every day he devoted an hour to making appointments with customers and then met them. He was very disciplined, punctual and exceeded his sales targets consistently. Pramodh became my role model and I thought that if I emulated him, I would also succeed. For the next few weeks, I too tried to be disciplined; I called customers, made appointments, kept them on time, but sales didn’t happen.

The initial euphoria of job rotation soon died; I was grounded. Performance and peer pressure quadrupled and in my morning prayers I added one more item to the long list of requests—‘If you exist God, just get me one sale.’ But soon I understood that God doesn’t respond to such prayers. Apparently He tests you when you are really down and gives you everything when you don’t really need it. I never understood why God acts like a banker. Anyway, that is a different story.

I was getting desperate. I hadn’t sold anything in about sixty days and I thought I had reached the end of the road. My confidence waned and I couldn’t answer simple customer queries. If the customer had a stern face, I wouldn’t meet him again. Sometimes I even stammered trying to get my name right with older customers. Meanwhile, our manager introduced an informal meeting where we exchanged stories on customer interactions, next steps, pipeline, etc. In most of these meetings, I didn’t have much to say. I was a silent listener. I would talk gibberish for five minutes, like which auto I took that day, how the traffic was and what the customer wore that day. I dutifully ended each story by saying, ‘Hopefully, we should have a sale soon.’ My manager felt good and I extended my lease of life for a few more weeks.

Then, one day, Pramodh came to my aid. We went out for a walk and he told me, ‘TGC, don’t be anxious about sales. When the time comes, there will be a windfall and you will have tons of sales. Keep doing what you are doing. Bring the customers to the brink and push them to buy.’

I appreciated his pep talk. I asked, ‘You think I will get a sale sooner than later?’

‘Possibly!’ He was silent for a while, then he said, ‘I think you should do three things. First, read up all the product manuals and come back with questions. Second, assess customer needs—ask yourself who is more likely to buy now and who will in the future. And finally, spend most of your time on people who will buy now.’

As I was riding back home, I reflected on what Pramodh had said. I understood that I had to gain product knowledge. This was in my hands and I resolved to read manuals every day for an hour and make notes.

Then I asked myself, ‘Who will buy from me now?’ and made a list of customers and put a percentage probability next to each customer name. Then I devised a method where I would spend most of my time with clients who wanted to buy now and a little less time with clients who might buy in the near future.

The next day, I went back to Pramodh and said, ‘Pramodh, can I join you for a few sales calls? I would like to see how you sell.’

He agreed. ‘But no talking, only observe. I handle my clients.’

For the next week I went with Pramodh to meet his customers. Our first meeting was with Texas Instruments, and Pramodh went there to check the status of the purchase order. He met the client and after the initial exchange of pleasantries, Pramodh asked if he could have the purchase order. The client replied that it was not ready and that Pramodh would have to come back in a couple of days.

Pramodh said, ‘All right, I will come back,’ and with a smile he added, ‘it surprises me that you were pushing me so hard to get the quotation quickly and now you are taking so much time to release the order. I hope you’ll release the order tomorrow so I don’t have to go around in circles.’

The customer smiled and responded, ‘Pramodh, come tomorrow and I will keep the order ready for you.’

This interaction taught me that I should build a relationship with the client, respond with urgency, be candid and make my expectations clear.

Our second call was to Infosys and the customer there just discussed the specification and asked Pramodh a lot of questions on performance, metrics, scalability and other related technical details. Once done, the customer said he would have to discuss the budget and get back to us. This, then, was a ‘technical specification’ call. For these kinds of calls, it was best to be prepared with product features.

The third, and the most interesting, meeting was with Titan Industries. First, the customer expressed his unhappiness that the previous delivery was delayed. Pramodh simply said, ‘Sorry for the delay in delivery, sir. Next time, I will make sure that it is delivered on time. Please let me know if there is anything pending for me to follow up.’

Satisfied, the customer began negotiations on a quotation that had been submitted earlier. Pramodh mentioned that he couldn’t reduce the price and described the product functionality in depth and why it cost as much.

The customer said that the competition was offering the same specification at a lesser price. Pramodh didn’t respond. He simply looked at the customer, who raised his eyebrow expecting a response.

Pramodh finally said, ‘Sir, it is common for customers to compare prices and it is common for competitors to undercut costs. If we used that as a benchmark to reduce prices every time, then we would be diminishing the value of our relationship and that is not what we stand for.’

‘I understand, but you’ve got to do something about it.’

‘Sir, if you keep getting multiple quotes and try to beat us down, then I will presume that you are not attaching any value to our relationship. We will definitely discuss volume discounting at a later date when we get substantial volumes, but for now, I would appreciate it if you would help close this sale and not get into discounts.’

The customer paused, looked at Pramodh, smiled and said, ‘Pramodh, I understand what you are saying, I will go with what you say, but promise me that once we touch fifty PCs, you are going to reduce the price.’

‘Sir, we will definitely discuss how it will work then,’ Pramodh replied.

‘All right, I take that as a promise. I won’t compare prices for the time being. You can collect the purchase order by Wednesday.’

Pramodh smiled and shook hands with the customer.

Lesson three made my day. I realized that I didn’t have the depth of dialogue with my customers that Pramodh had with his clients. I congratulated him on his confidence and appreciated his demeanour in handling clients. For me, this was MBA in action.

Pramodh told me one more important thing. ‘When a customer complains, it is good for us. It means the customer has not lost confidence in us yet. We must start worrying if the customer doesn’t say anything at all because that means he is going to desert us soon. So in every customer meeting, make sure to ask your customer if there is something you can do for him. Whenever a repeat customer expresses unhappiness and then sits down to discuss price, it means he intends on giving you the order but he wants to negotiate first.’

I really appreciated his mentoring and advice and remember his help even today. That one week with him made a huge difference. I went back to my customers with renewed enthusiasm. I started spending time with customers who I thought would give me an order quickly. My first sale came from Rajiv Shroff of Oracle. Once I got the order, I treated Pramodh at Shetty canteen—we had dosa and Pepsi.

After a couple of years with Wipro, Pramodh joined Cabletron, which was acquired by CISCO, where Pramodh has now become a senior leader. I have seen very few people with the sales acumen that Pramodh possesses. It is a blessing to have someone like him as your mentor and colleague.

‘Sales is a mind game.’ It is about understanding the product, prioritization, probability and negotiation. It is about building powerful relationships with customers. The difference between a successful and a not-so-successful salesman lies in how well he identifies an opportunity and closes the deal. Successful salespeople bring customers to the brink of purchase and push them to buy. Making customers eat out of your hands is an art.

29

Ambiguity–Direction Grid

N.S. Parthasarathy is one of the co-founders and CEO of infrastructure and testing services at MindTree. Partha has the two greatest assets any CEO can and should have—a common-sense approach to running a business and the ability to break complex problems into simple parts.

I first met Partha in August 1999, when the company was launched. Within the initial few weeks Partha and I were busy recruiting people. The company had started at the peak of the dotcom era and with demands from the US pouring in, we were scrambling to hire people in Bangalore. Fortunately, thanks to the big launch that the company had, there was no dearth of good résumés. We probably got a hundred thousand résumés within the first few weeks. We obviously couldn’t go through all the profiles, shortlist and call them for interviews. That was just not feasible. So, Partha and I discussed a quick strategy.

Partha suggested, ‘Let us consider a mix. We should take people whom we know from our past and we should also look at people we have never worked with before.’

This seemed like a good idea because we wanted to create a new culture instead of completely replicating past backgrounds. We started shortlisting the best profiles and called people for interviews. At the end of each interview, we asked people if they had any questions for us. One candidate wanted to know how the performance appraisal would run in the company and whether we had thought about the process. We politely explained that since the company had just begun, our first priority was to engage people and that we would set up processes slowly. The candidate nodded and expressed his intent to join us before he left.

‘Do you think we should take this guy?’ Partha asked once the candidate had left.

‘Not really,’ I replied. ‘I am not sure if he will be comfortable with the ambiguity a start-up has.’

Partha said, ‘Exactly. I think we should look for people who can handle ambiguity.’

Both of us agreed that all parameters being equal we would give more weightage to people who had a higher tolerance for ambiguity, and could bide the time it would take to build processes and systems. Having said this, I think MindTree was reasonably mature for a start-up. By day two, offer letters were ready to be sent to candidates. The letter contained the compensation stack, indicative levels and titles. If a company has these ready within the first forty-eight hours of its launch, it indicates that the company is off to a good start.

In another interview, a candidate who was applying for the position of project manager asked, ‘Who is going to give me direction in the project, decide which software development methodology we should follow?’

We said, ‘You will define the direction for the project, steer it and make it successful.’

‘But I have never done that before.’

‘That is fine, but can you do it now?’

The candidate did not say anything, but his expression was a dead giveaway. When he left, Partha turned to me, ‘I think we have to look at people who are comfortable charting their own direction. We don’t have the time or the managers to hand-hold.’

I said, ‘Agreed. Let us look at people who are comfortable with ambiguity and who can operate on their own.’

We then came up with an ambiguity–direction grid. We agreed to give first preference to people who were comfortable with ambiguity and who could chart their own direction. Since there were quite a few senior people who could guide and mentor, second preference was given to people who were comfortable with ambiguity. Third preference was given to people who were less comfortable with ambiguity, but could chart some direction. Finally, we decided not to shortlist people who had low threshold of ambiguity and wanted a lot of direction. It was a commonsense approach to managing situations and we were able to split a complex problem into simpler parts.

Partha has a favourite term for the people in the left bottom box. He calls them ‘high-maintenance’ people, those who drain off management energy and consume time. It doesn’t mean that these people are not intelligent or they don’t work hard. They may be high-calibre people and great performers too, but their ability to work in ambiguous situations, outside a defined structure, is limited.

I believe that the above grid is not only useful for start-up companies but can also be used in mature organizations where complexity is high. Often leadership positions go to ‘path-blazers’—people who can offer direction and who can comfortably steer the wheel in ambiguous situations. This is a unique ability. During World War II, JFK was a young lieutenant and his boat PT-109 was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. JFK led his crew of eleven people to Nauro Island in the South Pacific where they survived without much food and water for about four days. On the fifth day, the crew saw two locals in a canoe and requested them to paddle to the base, 38 miles away, for help. Since there was no paper and pen, JFK etched a message with his knife on the inside of a coconut husk. The message read: ‘NAURO ISL/NATIVE KNOWS POSIT/HE CAN PILOT/11 ALIVE/NEED SMALL BOAT/KENNEDY.’ JFK was a master in managing ambiguity and could define direction. Another example of this was his deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis.

People who can live with ambiguity but find it difficult to create direction end up as ‘path-followers’. The IT-application services industry in India is a great example. Most people in the software industry can live with complex situations, solve problems and can adapt to new technologies quickly, but they have not been able to achieve a pre-eminent spot in steering global technology direction or successfully create world-class IT software products.

People who can define direction, but have lower thresholds for ambiguity are ‘path-makers’. These people try to define structure in chaos because they tend to be uncomfortable with the lack of direction. For example people in quality, business planning departments, etc., try to bring sanity to chaos. They like to create plans, processes, systems and methods to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Finally people who seek direction and have a lower threshold for ambiguity are considered ‘slow adapters’. They are best suited to established environments with well-defined structures, processes and systems. These people take time to assimilate change, and are not necessarily low performers. They may be high performers who thrive with definitive direction in a highly structured environment.

We arrived at the grid based on the requirement at that given point in time. The grid is highly contextual and should be used based on a good understanding of the situation. At different stages in the evolution of a company, different management techniques and people with different competencies are required to bring about the requisite change.

30

Re-strategizing during Recession

Ashok Reddy is the MD of TeamLease, India’s largest staffing solutions company with 62,000 associates in over 750 locations. Ashok, his SRCC roommate Manish Sabharwal, and Manish’s classmate Mohit Gupta set up TeamLease in 2002. All of them knew each other well and possessed the same entrepreneurial spirit.

After Ashok graduated from IIM, Bangalore, in 1995, he joined ICICI Securities, but with each passing day he felt restless and impatient to do something on his own. Meanwhile, Manish, who had done his MBA from Wharton, was working on setting up an insurance company and discussed the project with Ashok and Mohit. All the three thought it was a great opportunity to pursue. However, once into the thick of things, they quickly realized that the capitalization requirements were too large and so they decided to form a pension management company that managed pension investment portfolios for clients instead. But when they approached clients, they were told, ‘Managing investments is easy. What we struggle with is the administration. Can you help manage it for us?’

Ashok and his friends saw this as an emerging business opportunity with instant clientele. So they jumped in headlong and created India Life in 1997, to help with pension, provident-fund and payroll administration. Ashok says, ‘It is a niche we picked. There were hardly any local or global players in this area and we had a good start.’ Within the next three years, India Life added many clients and in 2001 decided to enter into a strategic agreement with a global partner. During the discussions, they realized that there was really no point in a joint venture, because it would negate the entrepreneurial spirit and freedom they associated with the company. So, they elected to part with India Life and sold it to Hewitt Associates.

Having sold their first company, the team began looking into setting up their next venture. Ashok says, ‘During our India Life days, clients asked us to provide temporary manpower services. This opened up a new avenue and we decided to start TeamLease, a temporary-staffing solutions company.’

TeamLease took temporary-staffing requirements from clients and sourced people to fulfill them. Based on the client’s requirements and the contract that the client was willing to sign up, TeamLease set up back-to-back arrangements with their associates. For example, if the client wanted an accountant for, say, six months, TeamLease sourced an accountant and entered into a six-month contract. TeamLease brokers the arrangement, ensures legal compliance and charges, say, a 10 per cent management fee. This model works on volumes and margins are wafer-thin and profit after tax is usually less than 2 per cent. Given the operating margins, TeamLease tries to keep its overheads absolutely low.

TeamLease not only offers temporary-staffing services but also helps companies recruit people and, depending on the level of hire, it charges a placement fee of about 8.33 per cent of the candidate’s annual compensation. Initially they were restricted to white-collar jobs, but since 2006 they have added blue-collar shop-floor workers to their contracts. This increased the scale of operations and expanded the vision of ‘Putting India to Work’. Ashok says, ‘We were fortunate, we grew fast. There was nobody in this space in India. We decentralized and empowered teams at the local level and suitably structured the operations for growth. In just five years, from 2002 to 2008, we grew from zero to 82,000 associates and were closely competing with TCS for the position of the largest private-sector workforce company.’

However, with the recession, clients pulled out of contracts and the number of associates dropped to about 62,000 people.

Ashok and his team learnt some key lessons. ‘We thought we were on a super trajectory and were planning larger growth strategies. It is good we faced recession. It exposed our vulnerabilities and gave us the opportunity to make changes. We centralized our operations, updated our databases, metrics and dashboards, improved quality and introduced stringent cost controls. Next, we addressed fundamental strategic issues. We were in the employment business and revenues were dependent on several market factors. We had to de-risk and ensure stability. We decided to get into the employability business, choosing to focus on candidate assessment and vocational training. We also acquired the Indian Institute of Job Training (IIJT), and consequently a national network of over 250 centres that offer vocational training and employment services.’

IIJT is among India’s leading vocational-training providers with a national network and a capacity of 1 lakh concurrent students in courses that include sales, retail, finance, accounting and ICT. With this acquisition, TeamLease became India’s largest and fully integrated HR services company. The team has set itself a top-line target of Rs 1000 crore by 2012.

Ashok says, ‘Integrating candidate assessment into the mainstream business model served us well. We now work with the government of Karnataka to privatize employment exchanges. We support with training, processes and engagement and the government funds the engagement. The partnership kick-started off with the employment exchange in Mangalore. Between 2006 and 2009 the exchange helped eighty people find employment. However, after we started the engagement in November 2009, 250 people were placed in jobs within the first month. Traditionally candidates reached out to employment exchanges, and exchanges were not as successful in reaching out to companies. Now, with changing times, for an employment exchange to be vibrant, it has to reach out to both candidates and employers aggressively, because jobseekers and employers are not knocking at employment exchanges. We will try to cover all the forty-four exchanges in Karnataka. There are about 1200 exchanges in India, about 4 crore people register every year and only about 2 lakh succeed in getting jobs. We think that this infrastructure can do a lot more. We started assessment tests for all the potential candidates who register at the employment exchanges and charge Rs 65–80 per test. Besides the standard assessment, we also offer extensive assessment and employability options to potential candidates, at an additional cost. Eventually TeamLease and the government could get into a revenue-sharing model.’

Recently the Gujarat government approached TeamLease to train and place about 60,000 tribals in the next five years. The initiative costs Rs 50 crore and has been formulated to keep Naxalism at bay. This is the first such initiative taken by any state government in the country. In January 2011 TeamLease signed an MOU with the Gujarat government to set up vocational-education university in the state. By 2014, it is planned to roll out twenty-two community colleges. The vocational-education university will offer two-year associate degree programmes and with an investment of Rs 30 crore, most of the education will be relayed via satellite transmission. In the first phase, ten colleges are envisaged to be set up in the first eighteen months.

Ashok is obviously thrilled with the initiatives and says, ‘We will be using existing government infrastructure to roll out the programme and this combines social and corporate objectives for us.’

Clearly Ashok and his team are enthused and they are striving hard to achieve the vision of being the largest private-sector employer in the country. A period of recession motivates companies to re-strategize and evolve, consolidate operations and strengthen efficiencies. Ashok says, ‘It is possible to achieve, because we now have innate strength to face bigger challenges. Recession has helped strengthen our resolve. We should be like springboards in good times and shock absorbers otherwise.’

This is an interesting case because, whereas passion usually guides people to a certain business, in Ashok’s case, his passion was to do something on his own and clients showed him the path. TeamLease’s story also shows how companies morph and arrive at newer business models during recession. Ashok says, ‘In a way, we were at the right place at the right time. As entrepreneurs, we wanted to make a company that was fun to be with, which made a difference to the country and which was profitable. I think TeamLease is right in the middle of these three requirements, so we don’t feel like we are working. We are just having a great time together.’

31

Transforming Healthcare

I first met Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, when he was visiting the Misys Bangalore centre, just after Misys acquired majority shareholding in the company. Allscripts is a NASDAQ-listed IT products company with about 5500 employees in forty-four locations and a significant market share in the electronic health-records’ segment. More than 1,80,000 physicians, 1500 hospitals and nearly 10,000 post-acute and home-care organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health of their patients and their bottom line.

Lee Shapiro, president of Allscripts, and Glen headed straight to the office from the airport upon arrival. At the office, they quickly changed and got down to meetings in the conference room. Since they hadn’t indicated any food preferences, we thought it safe to offer pizza and Coke for lunch.

The meeting started with initial introductions, then Glen said, ‘Let me first take you through what we do at Allscripts,’ and started a slide presentation.

Within the next few minutes Glen was on a roll. The way he spoke was captivating, to say the least. One of his slides displayed a Bloomberg screen displaying two terminals. One was for buy-side transactions and the other for sell-side transactions. Glen said, ‘This screen changed the way the financial industry processed information. It changed how real-time trade took place. We have to do something similar for the healthcare industry, too.’

His eyes gleamed as he continued, ‘Imagine using a two-screen dashboard in healthcare. Patient history on one side of the screen and probable diagnosis, expert comments, recommended cures, probable medicines, etc., on the other. Wouldn’t that be really cool? That will give the doctor a holistic picture and aid in decision-making. If we can pull this off, the way patients are treated will change forever.’

Listening to Glen explaining the vision was fantastic. It was like creating a personalized Google for the healthcare industry. His vision enables creating meta-databases and gives doctors, physicians and scientists a peek into how diseases behave. He believes that half the problems associated with the healthcare industry are due to a lack of access to the right information and this kind of system can help solve it. He continued with his slide show and told us about Allscripts’ current portfolio of products, how patient medical records were captured and how hospital systems were evolving. He took about two hours to conclude his presentation with occasional interruptions from us. We were like a bunch of schoolkids listening in rapt attention to the most fascinating story we’d ever heard. Glen can tell you the most compelling story and make you believe in the loftiest of visions. All the while that Glen was talking about his vision for Allscripts, his energy stayed constant. Somebody later told me that Glen doesn’t know what jetlag is and apparently sleeps only for four hours every day. For the rest of the time he is thinking, working, travelling and meeting people.

Allscripts’ vision is ‘a connected community of health’. The vision statement is powerful and all-encompassing because it is about connecting communities for betterment of healthcare. Needless to say, Allscripts enjoys the largest market share in the US for innovative products in the Electronic Medical Records segment.

Glen said, ‘When the vision is lofty, people are motivated to accomplish it.’

Let us now look at a few interesting vision statements of some global companies that have grown substantially in brand value and market share.

- Ford Motor Company’s vision in the early 1900s was to ‘Democratize the automobile.’ Nobody has done better in the democratization of the automobile than Ford.

- Wal-Mart’s vision statement is ‘To be a world leader in retailing.’ Do we need to discuss more on the vision? It is as simple as it can get. Nobody can miss it and today Wal-Mart has changed the way retailing works. They hold the largest market in retailing in the US and Wal-Mart is a brand to reckon with.

- Avon’s vision statement is ‘To be the company that best understands and satisfies the product, service and self-fulfilment needs of women—globally.’ Avon focuses on women’s needs—its tagline is ‘the company for women’—and is one of the foremost brands with one of the largest market shares in the women’s personal needs and beauty-care segment.

- The vision statement of Kraft Foods is ‘Helping People around the World Eat and Live Better.’ It is not just about being a food company, but addresses the health and well-being of its consumers globally. Needless to say, Kraft is one of the leading global brands with one of the largest market shares.

When the vision is powerful, it motivates people and spawns innovative products and services, thereby creating immense value and wealth creation.

After Glen’s presentation, we started talking about the India centre, our expertise, process-driven approaches, the metrics that we capture, improvisations we make, and the competencies of our people. Glen listened for a while and then asked, ‘How do you attract people? What kind of companies and institutions do they come from? How do you ensure they are aligned to a common goal? What is your attrition rate? How many people can you add on a monthly basis?’ Even before we could reply he said, ‘I am more interested in the people side of business, because the back end of the information technology industry is all about people management. People develop and ship world-class products. So, tell me more about your people strategy.’

We explained our people strategy in detail.

At the end of the session Glen and Lee mentioned that they were pleased with the progress that had been made in such a short duration. Lee said, ‘I think we have the capacity and capability to expand at short notice.’ Before leaving, Glen said, ‘Everything went well today except the lunch. We would have preferred Indian food to pizza. Next time we are here, please make sure to get us Indian food.’ I apologized and promised that it would be taken care of on their next visit.

Before leaving the Misys building, Glen presented me with a book titled Our Chicago by Marilyn D. Clancy and Ron Schramm. I was deeply touched by his unexpected gesture. On his next trip to India for the global board meeting, I gave him a book on India. He loved it and all the other board members started asking me, ‘Where is my copy?’ I laughed and replied, ‘Those who partner and give projects get it.’

Glen told me that he had studied social anthropology and loved travelling in India. He was leaving for Varanasi the same evening to study the town and understand its culture. Apparently his younger son was learning Hindi and was doing a project in Kerala. His older son was learning Mandarin and was in Beijing. He also mentioned that most of their vacations were in India and that his family loved spending time here.

Within a quarter after Misys acquired majority stake in Allscripts, Glen completed the product portfolio rationalization, determined the R&D budget, created a new organizational structure, and communicated the sales strategy to the board. Allscripts also launched the first physician application for the iPhone, in which physicians could use the scripting software to connect to electronic medical records maintained on Allscripts’ central servers. Between October 2008 and Jan 2011, in about two-plus years, the stock moved from approximately $5 to $20, a 400 per cent jump. This was probably due to the excellent revenue and order-booking numbers that the company was experiencing, primarily driven by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which entails approximately US$ 30 billion of federal funding for physician and hospital adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). In June 2010 Allscripts and Eclipsys merged in a $1.3-billion deal and according to Allscripts, the merger forms one company with the industry’s largest network of clients on one-product platform, resulting in a single patient record. Eclipsys’s strength is providing software to hospitals and Allscripts’ strength lies in providing software to physicians and acute-post-care centres. The combination secures the entire customer range in the healthcare segment and though as on March 2011 the P/E ratio is 104.45, it is forecasted that the stock would touch $26 in a year’s time from the current $20-plus.

That is Glen Tullman, the power of his vision, a fantastic combination of two complementary companies and the American IT-related healthcare market for you. I hope it stays as buoyant!

The Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame awarded Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, the lifetime achievement award as part of the 2010 annual event hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.

Glen said, ‘I am honoured to be recognized by the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Companies are nothing more than a group of people committed to solving important problems and I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by great people. I accept this recognition on behalf of all the employees and great clients of Allscripts, who work every day to make healthcare better.’

My interactions with Glen were short; we talked once a quarter on steering calls and exchanged mails when needed. He is a man of great vision, but, more importantly, he knows how to communicate in simple terms. He believes that a compelling vision can motivate people significantly and set a new direction.

Fortunately, through the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to interact with some great leaders and they all have certain characteristics in common:

- They have a compelling vision.

- They can communicate effectively.

- They can tell great stories and can take people through wonderful journeys.

- They look for simple solutions to complex problems.

- They are interested in the ‘people’ aspect of the story.

- They are simple in their approach.

- They are honest in their feedback.

- They know what they want.

If you carefully analyse the above list, you will notice that it is not difficult to cultivate these competencies. What is tough is consistently exhibiting these behaviours and competencies, and this is exactly where great leaders score over the rest.

32

Three Initiatives

Sometime in mid-2006 Saltuk Ertop took charge as the head of HR for Alcatel-Lucent, India. He was deputed from the Paris office to help merge the India operations. He functionally reported to the HR head of Europe South and administratively to the CEO of the India operations. I was part of global organization development and strategy group and was briefly assigned to work on post-merger integration activity with Saltuk.

Since my job mostly involved mergers and acquisitions work, Saltuk called me and said, ‘TGC, can you please help me organize the day-one merger activities?’ Along with the rest of the HR department, internal communications and business leaders, we drew up plans involving activities, marketing, communication and celebrations. We wanted our customers, partners and employees to have an enriching experience. Probably a quarter or more went into the planning exercise. Finally, it was day one and all relevant communications were sent out. Everyone liked the new logo and the communications that were released. Public announcements of the merger had indicated a less than 10 per cent cut in worldwide workforce in a three-year time frame. Deep inside, employees were apprehensive about their jobs, titles, levels, salaries, roles, etc. Sensing this, as part of the launch of the new company, I had prepared an information booklet for employees titled ‘What to Expect from the New Company’. While I had tried to answer as many questions as honestly as I could, the answer to most questions was ‘Wait to hear more from your manager or the HR department’, because we didn’t have adequate information at that point. This manual made its way to the corporate communications group and was put up on the intranet as an example of a regional communications guide. Saltuk, global HR executives and other department leaders thought it was a great piece of work and I received commendation e-mails from many of them. Personally, I thought it was common sense. However, when I started interacting with some global leaders, I quickly realized that in such a culturally diverse environment, people look for answers even to the simplest questions. For people in developed countries especially, the threshold for ambiguity is low and they constantly look for FAQs (frequently asked questions), as it reduces uncertainty for them. Whereas in India, the threshold for uncertainty is pretty high and while people care for information posted on the Net, they tend to rely more on dialogue and information they get from peers and supervisors.

After the ‘day one’ activities concluded, Saltuk had several discussions with the HR and business leaders and then called me and said, ‘TGC, we have to launch post-merger initiatives, can we discuss?’ I went to New Delhi to meet him. At the end of our meeting, we came up with three interventions that had to be implemented. Saltuk discussed the initiatives with senior HR team members—Solomon Ravi Kumar, Ronald D’Souza, Appa Rao, Manojit Dhar, David Nallathambi and Jagdish Ghorpade—and they all agreed to support and work on the interventions. I believe Saltuk was lucky because he inherited a strong and seasoned senior HR team that stood by him and supported the change.

- Aligning the leadership: Bringing together the leadership teams of Lucent and Alcatel as a cohesive unit and merging organizational boundaries.

- Communicating with employees: Reaching out to employees across the subcontinent and communicating to them what leadership is doing and what the company’s priorities are.

- Restructuring HR: Reorganizes the HR leadership and establishes an equitable organization with respect to benefits and policies.

Saltuk and I wondered what we could do to make the leaders work together.

‘Lock the fellows in a room and throw the key. They will figure out the rest,’ he joked, then added, ‘Seriously, I think we need to have a method. Maybe we should have a one- or two-day business workshop and people can make presentations about their work, structure, department, the issues they face, etc. We could also discuss setting up review councils.’

We decided to organize a business council meeting, and the leaders were asked to present on the following:

- What do I do?

- What is my team structure?

- How do I run the business/function/product/vertical, etc.?

- How do I expand the client base and generate repeat business?

- What are some key customer issues?

- How do I review my business and recommendations going forward?

- What team issues do I face and what help do I need?

Once the meeting concluded, Saltuk told me, ‘The meeting went well. I think, more than anything else, people got to know each other. Now that we have created the management and review forums, hopefully they will redirect the focus back to customers.’

I couldn’t agree more. Often during mergers, people tend to focus inwards and lose sight of the customer and the market. It is imperative for the management to move with speed and announce structures, review mechanisms and priorities at the earliest, and shift the company’s focus back to customers.

I believe, post-merger business council meetings are a must because:

- They help set up basic people interfaces and foster team work.

- Management and review forums help align the business in the right direction.

- Senior leadership gets a holistic view of the company. Dashboards of business metrics help identify customer issues.

- Communication issues at the senior-management level are smoothed (hopefully!)

Often organizational politics peak during mergers. Usually, politics come into play when people want power, recognition or rewards. Companies try to accommodate people by making an organization structure that allows a safe position for all. That is doing a big disservice to the company and its employees because eventually the structure becomes unworkable; people start stepping on each other’s toes and it starts eating into the management time and energy. The best thing would be for the management to arrive at a structure that is business-driven and choose the ideal person for any given role. By doing this, the company will do well and people will get the opportunity to explore alternate career options where they could do well.

Saltuk then wanted to implement the second intervention—communicating with employees about leadership and business priorities. Communication holds the key to success in any post-merger integration. The more you communicate, the better it is. Internet and newsletter-based communication go only so far. The best mode is to meet people in groups and answer their questions. Obviously the management won’t have answers to all the questions and that is perfectly all right. In uncertain times it is all right to say, ‘We don’t know the answers yet but we are trying to figure them out.’ People will understand and trust the company if the management is transparent and truthful.

We advised the business leadership to hold town-hall meetings and Saltuk personally travelled to most of these locations. The key message given at every location was, ‘Here is the new leadership. We are going through a transition, but don’t lose sight of the customers and performance.’ Simultaneously Saltuk put pressure on rolling out the performance-management system. He addressed leaders and managers in different locations and encouraged them to discuss their objectives with their respective teams. So, the second critical point was taken care of. I wouldn’t say it had a huge impact, but it was a good start in improving communication across the organization.

Last on Saltuk’s agenda was HR restructuring. ‘I have to make a structure which makes everybody happy, makes sense to the organization and also brings about the requisite change,’ Saltuk said. ‘It is very difficult, but we will give it a try. It is like getting married to your beautiful Indian film heroine … what is her name … yes, Aishwarya Rai, and expecting her to cook for you daily!’

Saltuk gave it his best shot. He talked to the entire senior HR team in the company and put a matrix structure in place, ensuring that all the senior HR people played dual roles. Once the new HR structure was announced, Saltuk tackled the process of rationalizing benefits and people policies. As per the merger guidelines, all existing employee benefits had to be grandfathered for at least eighteen months and this was kept in mind during the restructuring process. After the exercise was completed, a new set of benefits and policies was prepared, ratified and announced. Formerly Lucent people felt that benefits were reduced and those from Alcatel wanted an increase in compensation to match that of the Lucent employees. This is a common feature in any merger. Saltuk was candid and explained, ‘If we don’t contain costs, then we will have no option but to downsize and we don’t want to do that.’ Most people understood that Saltuk meant business and agreed to go along with organizational policy on cost containment.

I believe most mergers fail internally even before customer-and market-related issues start surfacing because of the following reasons:

- An unstable leadership and structure—Restructuring in order to ‘accommodate’ the leadership causes severe dissonance in the company and ultimately leads to disaster.

- The lack of communication—Usually, managements only communicate when there is enough meat to present. However, it is best to engage employees in a dialogue and communicate even when it’s a ‘work in progress’. That will keep the engagement-levels going. In an interview with Ford CEO Alan Mulally, the Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein asked, ‘Everybody says communicate, communicate and communicate, that’s what a top leader has to do; at a level everybody knows it, but nobody does it, why?’ Mulally replied, ‘It doesn’t mean that I stand up and keep communicating, which we obviously do anyway, it means creating the culture of open, transparent and honest communication for people to know what is happening and what is expected of them … that is the real communication to unlock the creativity of people …’

- HR-related issues—When companies take too long to communicate the changes in the workplace, it creates ambiguity and employees tend to look elsewhere. Managements should announce supervisor, titles, workplace, reporting lines, levels and benefits as quickly as possible and remove the ambiguity. Unfortunately, this is the last thing that managements focus on, and yet complain that ‘their assets walk out of the door every evening’.

- Inconsistencies in global and local policies—This is a big issue in multinationals. In order to maintain consistency of approach, most regional policies are centrally directed without adequate representation or input from the regions. When the programmes subsequently come up for implementation locally, they are perceived as flawed approaches and local HR departments get the flak. Companies should clearly define what should be globalized and what should be done locally. In one MNC, the operations head in London decided the seating arrangement for his team in India. In another company, the India HR business partner drawing the equivalent of $1,00,000 as salary could not sign off an Rs 10,000-gift voucher for a team award. He had to get prior written approval from the global rewards’ head sitting in the US and she couldn’t respond to his queries for weeks. So much for empowerment. Power shifts to locations where knowledge is demonstrated, utilized and deployed. MNCs must realize that success lies in going with the flow of intellectual capital, not against it.

- Customer orientation suffers—Usually the first ninety days of a merger have to be managed extremely well. People tend to focus inward and customer orientation, both in sales and service, tends to suffer. This is the time for managements to be extra vigilant on sales- and support-related issues. Most customer deflections happen as the mergers are taking place because the customer feels neglected and competition chooses this as the right opportunity to swoop in.

- Product rationalization—During a merger, it is inevitable for companies to sunset overlapping products. Some get into maintenance and others into development and deployment at customer site. The faster the management takes the decision on product-portfolio rationalization, the better it is for the company. People can’t work without a clear product roadmap.

- Lack of honesty—Given the plethora of debacles, people don’t trust merger announcements anymore. Managements don’t stick to the core proposition and don’t communicate the right intent. I believe it is better to be honest about the potential outcomes of a merger and manage expectations than beat around the bush, thereby making people lose confidence in the management and the company.

I believe 2006–10 was one of the most trying periods for Alcatel–Lucent in India, but fortunately the entity, especially the services business, emerged successful and grew rapidly under the able stewardship of Vivek Mohan, a Harvard MBA and currently president, Global Services and head of Alcatel–Lucent, India. During early merger days, I met with Vivek couple of times to discuss organizational dynamics and without mincing words he explained the obstacles to overcome. It didn’t take long for me to realize that he was a true-North leader and would make tremendous impact on the organization.

Saltuk’s two-year tenure in India was eventful; he did his best to make leaders work with each other, communicated with employees, created a matrix HR structure, rationalized policies, introduced a new benefit programme and took critical decisions to manage attrition. His mandate was to make things work and he made sure he did that. Saltuk could do this because he is an inherently strong person. He would walk into a meeting and say, ‘I am sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying and if you mean this, then I do not want to agree with you. Sorry!’ At times, people didn’t appreciate his candour and thought of him as a ‘Headquarter Honcho’. He once told me, ‘Prasad, I feel bad when people say I am biased towards Alcatel. I get my salary from Alcatel–Lucent, not Alcatel. My loyalty is to the company. I don’t want to play politics and I believe in being straightforward. If people don’t like it, so be it, but I will do what is good for the organization.’ You don’t win popularity contests being an HR head and definitely not during merger times. Given the circumstances, I think he did well.

I learnt a lot about people management while I worked with Saltuk, and have fond memories of our time together. I especially remember a particular phone call I received a couple of months after Saltuk arrived in India.

‘TGC, I quit,’ Saltuk said as soon as I answered the phone. I was shocked; it had been just a couple of months since he joined and he already wanted to quit.

‘But why?’

‘Everybody quits, so I also quit.’

‘I know, but why do you want to quit?’

‘I have to see my wife and children,’ he replied.

I assumed he was feeling homesick. ‘I understand people can get lonely when they work on deputation. But, don’t be foolish. Take a break and then come back. You don’t have to quit.’

He said, ‘What are you saying, my friend? I quit, I am going home to my wife and children. I see you tomorrow.’

I laughed aloud. He had meant he was leaving for the day, but the seriousness with which he said it, stopped me in my tracks. There are several such incidents to relate and it taught me how to work with people from diverse backgrounds. I believe it is important to work with people from different nationalities and cultures because it helps develop global mindsets.

Saltuk Ertop currently works as director HR with Efes Beer Group in Istanbul, Turkey.

Theme 4: Deploy Professional Skills to Win

These stories are about people who are consummate professionals open to deploying their skills in both social and economic situations. They focus on skill development, partnering, achieving true potential and winning. They are extremely context-driven and modify their strategies and behaviour accordingly. Their ability to adapt to new work cultures across diverse roles makes them open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. These people are constantly evolving, learning at every opportunity. They make effective consultants who can assess a situation using suitable methodologies and present appropriate solutions to solve problems. They take risks, overcome fear of failure by the process of rationalization and take chances and are determined to do their best. They are candid in their responses and build straightforward business relationships. Being highly productive individuals, they do not waste their time and energy on futile things; they know when to do business and when to walk away from a deal. They are effective negotiators and solid performers who are great at defining pros and cons and can evaluate various options effectively and influence the way forward. Their caring yet firm handling of people makes them excellent mentors and guides.

33

Chak De! India—Coaching to Win

The story of the very popular movie Chak De! India was based on M.K. Kaushik, the former coach of the Indian women’s national field-hockey team. He was a member of the squad when India won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 1998, he received the Arjuna Award and in 2000 he wrote the book The Golden Boot: Triumph and Trauma of an Indian Coach in association with K. Arumugam.

I talked to Kaushik at length and ended our conversation feeling exhilarated. I could feel his energy and passion for the game. You immediately know you are speaking to a coach with a purpose.

Being the coach of a national-level team is not an easy task. Besides coordinating with various government bodies, the coach must develop a professional approach to winning, keep the team spirit alive and manage the aspirations of each player. Kaushik says, ‘When I took up the coaching contract in 1991, the president of the women’s hockey federation was Arnawaz Damania and she gave me a lot of freedom. Arnawaz’s daughter played in the 1990 Asian Games and subsequently joined my camp, but I didn’t select her for the next set of games. Arnawaz didn’t question my decision. It is difficult to be straightforward and drop your boss’s daughter. But that is how I have always been and people appreciate that.’

A coach needs freedom to select and to prepare the team in the right way. ‘I once met JRD when I was part of the Tata sports club,’ Kaushik recalled. He was a great visionary. His way of negotiating with workers was very different. If the workers had ten demands, he would add two more demands to the list and say, “You should add these as well.” Very few people can even think on behalf of the other person. I learnt from him that as a coach, from time to time, I should place myself in the shoes of my players. That would help me understand them better. The second thing that I learned fromJRD was approachability. Anybody could approach him and talk to him freely. So, I decided to make myself accessible and approachable to my team.’

For any coach, understanding the psychology of the player is very important. Not all players are alike. Some people love the competition and excel in tough situations. Others buckle under the stress. Coaching has to be tailored to the players’ individual needs.

Coach Kaushik says, ‘You know Ashish Ballal? He is an ace goalkeeper. He helped save two critical penalty shootout strokes and India won the 1998 Asian Games. Before the Asian Games I fought with the management and got him into the team. Then he turned up late for practice. I had to reprimand him in front of everybody and set him straight. He felt insulted and sulked. I explained to him that it was his fault and there was nothing personal about it. He understood what I said and reconciled quickly. Sometimes you don’t have many options and you have to reprimand your best and that is how it works. Seeing that, the rest of the team falls in place. As a coach, I follow the same standards that are set for everyone. A coach cannot practise different habits and expect players to follow different ones. I cannot come late to the grounds and expect the players to be on time. There is something called personal discipline. As a coach, I have to be a role model, someone young players look up to.’

Managing senior players who have been playing and winning for the team and tend to be overconfident is just as difficult as getting the best out of junior team players who lack confidence. So, you give different strokes to different people.

Kaushik says, ‘In the 1991 camp, Rajbir Rai, one of the senior and solid players from Punjab who was part of the 1982 Asian Games was going through a phase of overconfidence and was showing “dadagiri”. I took her aside and gave her a piece of my mind. I explained to her that irrespective of how good she was, if she was not a team player, she would be out of the game. On the other hand Pritam Siwatch, a junior player from Haryana, came from rural background and lacked social skills. I spent a lot of time giving her confidence and teaching her social skills. A coach’s role doesn’t end with the game. Managing personalities, strengths and challenges is also part of the job.’

The selection criteria for getting into big games are stringent and Kaushik feels that everybody who is shortlisted should be given a chance to play international games. That is the only way to develop second and third lines of players who will be ready to play for the country in subsequent years. ‘We give emphasis to discipline. Following processes, teamwork, coming on time, taking notes, trying to improve skill, following directions and mental preparation are some of the aspects that we keep observing in players. For example, on the day before the match, when we say, “lights off at ten”, the players are expected to go to sleep and get adequate rest. That is part of protocol. People have to realize that when you play for your country you represent a billion people and you are responsible for your actions. You should feel great for being selected but also humble because the game is always bigger than you.’

Peak performance comes with mental make-up, skill, practise, fitness and strategy. Players are expected to follow a strict regimen and diet that keeps them physically fit. While skill can be perfected with practise, mental make-up comes with honing the mind; it is about telling yourself that you can win and you can manage your opponents. Strategy is different; it is about preparing for the match.

‘Before the 1998 Asian Games, we recorded all the games played by Korea and gave the recordings to two of our goalies—Ashish Ballal and Subbaiah,’ Kaushik said. ‘They must have watched the tapes a million times and we discussed the Korean play for endless hours. We focused especially on penalty shootouts. We studied each and every Korean player till we could predict their shootout strokes. That was the kind of planning and strategy that went into preparing for the match. Nobody expected it, but when the 1998 Asian Games finals against Korea ended in a draw and the shootout became inevitable, we were ready. Usually the goalie that keeps the match for seventy minutes doesn’t take the penalty shootout and a fresh goalie is brought to stop the shootouts. It is assumed that the fresh goalie comes with higher energy and alertness. But on that day in Bangkok, it was almost eight in the evening and we decided to continue with Ashish Ballal even though he had been playing for the last seventy minutes. It was night and Ashish had already been playing for seventy minutes so his eyes had become used to the floodlight and the ball, whereas Subbaiah would probably have taken time to adjust to the lighting and the ball. I believe it was a perfect strategic call. Ashish Ballal stopped two shootouts and India won. Strategy always has to be contextual.’

Players tend to get into high-pressure situations before, during and after the match. Coaches stick with the players and motivate and advise them. Players listen and perform accordingly on the field. Some come out winners and others losers. How does the team take it? What do coaches do and say?

‘Before every match, I talk to my players. I talk to them about the match. I revise the summary of how to win the match. I talk a little bit about the opponents’ weaknesses that we should exploit. I focus significantly on our strengths. I tell them that this is our match, we have the capability and we can win it. I tell them not to allow the opponents to touch the ball in our semicircle. Nobody!’

The advice should be short, simple, crisp and should touch upon the core strategy that has been adopted for the match. The seventy-minute match has two halves of thirty-five minutes each with a ten-minute break in between. That break is ultra-crucial.

Kaushik says, ‘We actually don’t get ten minutes because players have to walk onto and off the field and also have to freshen up. We are left with about five minutes. In those five minutes, I tell my players to focus on what has to be done in the second half. I usually don’t critique or tell them what they should not do, unless necessary. The real focus is achieving key strategic objectives. Coaches usually focus on the top players who are at peak performance and give them strong advice on what to do next. Once the players are back on the field for the second half, I use my body language to direct them. After sometime, coaches and players start understanding each other’s body language. Once the match is over, if we win, the players are euphoric and the confidence is very high and I congratulate them. However, I subtly remind them not to get complacent. Knowing what to say when is very important. I have always observed that if we play a weak opposition early on in the tournament and win, we tend to lose the next match due to overconfidence and complacency. On the other hand, if we lose the match, the players are usually very demoralized and have drooping shoulders in the dressing-room. I focus on lifting their spirits. At least initially, I prefer not to get into what went wrong and obviously I don’t critique the players immediately. During the discussion I help players open up and once players get into the thick of the discussions they automatically start discussing what went wrong on that particular day and why they lost the match.’

A coach alone cannot manage a full contingent of players. Kaushik says, ‘During the selection process, it is inevitable that some players are shortlisted and some are not. I am proposing that players who are not shortlisted for the final contingent also be part of a development team, from where we can pick players if need be. Let us see how that goes. Junior coaches, physiotherapist, psychological expert and team manager—all these people make my team. Without them I cannot survive and we cannot prepare. I would say a team of specialists prepares a team of expert players.’

In developing a high-performance culture, coaches go through their own challenges because managing mindsets of extremely talented national players is not easy. The team is a mix of senior and junior players from different states of India. Their skill level, education, and social skills vary greatly. Coaches have to spend a lot of time and effort on setting up interfaces amongst players. Players go through enormous stress and at times pick on small issues. Managing the associated dynamics becomes extremely critical.

In summarizing his learning experience as a coach, Kaushik points out:

- When you are a coach you have to be unbiased and should have a professional outlook with regard to all the players.

- If you are a professional coach you should know how to give feedback. You have to customize it based on the player.

- As a coach you will have to look beyond skill and address the mental make-up. Assuming the skill differential is not too much, it is the strength of mind that makes the most difference.

- Be straightforward and candid in your assessment of players and let them know what they are good at and where they have to improve. Don’t wait for an assessment cycle—give instant feedback so that players can improve immediately.

- A coach should be a role model to the players. If you expect them to come on time, then you should be the first to arrive.

- Fight for your players when need be and reprimand them if they are at fault. Fairness will win people. Take your players and team along with you. Don’t be afraid to take on the system. Be frank and candid about the changes you would like to bring about.

Coaching high performers is extremely tough, because coaches have to focus on building powerful winning minds, more than honing the skills of players. In the process egos are ruptured, coaches get pushed and players also get rubbed the wrong way. It is a delicate balance and needs maturity on the part of both the players and coaches. I believe, more than anything else, that to coach one needs to have a strong behavioural understanding of people and the maturity to accept that ‘it takes time to change habits and mindsets’. Players too have to realize that they have to fall in line sooner than later—for their own good and, importantly, for the good of the team!

34

Overcoming the Fear of Failure

I have known G.V. Suresh since my days in Coopers & Lybrand. He specializes in SAP, sales and distribution and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) modules. In recent years his expertise has expanded to client partnering, program management and project management.

By the way, he freelances.

In May 2006, he made the tough decision to leave a comfortable job with MindTree and start his own freelance practice. He says, ‘My biggest challenge was to overcome the fear of failure. I had the skills and competencies for a great job, and even the confidence to stand up to anyone. But when it came to giving up my job to do something on my own, my knees buckled. Damn, I didn’t know what to do. I was not happy doing what I was doing. There was a nagging feeling at the back of my head. I asked myself what to do over and over again. Should I continue climbing the career ladder and aim to become a CEO or do something on my own? I realized that for me true happiness was in doing something on my own. I wanted to be the master of my time, my work, my priorities and my life.’

All of us have had to make difficult choices in life, ones that have helped us reach where we are today. I guess Suresh was at that juncture in life when he was struggling to make the decision to be on his own. He had a regular income and some bank loans to service. His wife was a homemaker and they had a six-month-old baby. His worst fear—what will happen if I don’t get consulting assignments?—was killing him.

He asked his wife, ‘Should I quit my job and freelance?’

‘Why? What is so different about it?’

‘Well, I can be on my own; I’ll be my own boss and pick the kind of work I like to do. I could probably make more money by spending lesser time. And I’ll have more time with the family.’

For a while his wife was not convinced. A few months passed by and Suresh broached the topic again. ‘All right,’ she finally agreed, ‘if you want to do it then do it now, this is the best time. You are young, our son is also small, and probably you can take risks now. It could be too late after a few years.’ Suresh was surprised by her response. He had expected a dialogue and not a decision.

A few years later, after he had been freelancing for a while, he mustered the courage and asked his wife, ‘What made you say yes to my decision to freelance?’ She told him, ‘At first, I had thought you were being flippant. But then I saw the earnestness and conviction in your eyes and I relented.’ Typically, your spouse is your greatest critic. When in doubt, ask your spouse. She will tell you the right thing to do. If she tears you to pieces at home, it is good for you. You will probably have better chances of succeeding outside.

So, now the ball was in Suresh’s court. But he was still indecisive. He discussed the matter with his friends. Those who were employed said, ‘Don’t be stupid, don’t quit. You are stressed, go take a vacation and then get back to work. You have a family to take care of and loans to pay.’ Those who ran their own businesses asked, ‘How long can you sustain yourself and your family without a job? Can you generate business? Do you have any customers right now who are willing to give you assignments?’

There is a huge difference in the way different people perceive the same situation. People who are employed seek security in their jobs, whereas business people think about generating security. The locus of control for employees is external, often linked to the well-being of the company they work for. However, for business people the locus of control is internal and depends upon the well-being of their own company.

Depending upon the situation, it is important to ask opinions from the right people. If you want to continue in a job and pursue a career then talk to your peers and friends who are employed. If you want to start a business then you must talk to your friends who are on their own.

Meanwhile, Suresh finished reading Kiyosaki and Lechter’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money—That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! and was inspired. By then he had invested in a house and was able to rent it out, thus taking care of the EMIs and his financial burden. One Sunday afternoon, Suresh and his wife went to the Jayanagar shopping complex. Outside the complex, Suresh stopped his car next to a vegetable vendor who was selling capsicum. He lowered the car window and started bargaining.

The vendor quickly retorted, ‘Sir, if you want to buy, buy quickly. My price here is Rs 22 per kg and in the main market inside I sell at Rs 26 per kg.’

Suresh smiled and asked, ‘Why is that?’

The vegetable vendor laughed and said, ‘I offer you less on the road because I want to close the deal and move quickly. In the market place, I have time to haggle.’

Suresh says, ‘Somehow, that incident was a turning point in making a decision. Here was a happy vegetable vendor who had no skills, carted vegetables on the street and lived from one day to the next. On the other hand, I had the right skills and experience to freelance and just couldn’t do it. I felt like a coward and decided to take action.’

So the very next day he talked to his company and resigned. As expected, the management said, ‘Why do you want to leave? Do you have another offer? How will you earn? It is difficult to get consulting assignments.’ But by then Suresh had made up his mind to pursue a career as a freelancer. Suresh says, ‘I didn’t keep a contingency job in hand because I felt it would weaken my resolve and not motivate me to do what I wanted to do—freelancing.’

Fundamentally, a transformation took place in Suresh; he overcame the fear of failure. The uncertainty of ‘what if’ was replaced by a confident ‘what should I do?’.

Looking back he says, ‘It is all a question of conditioning your brain.’

Once on his own, Suresh picked up consulting assignments with his own employer and his business kicked off. He quickly realized that assignments came only if he networked. ‘All my life I talked to people with a purpose in mind. I spoke to friends because I knew them. I spoke to colleagues and managers because we worked together. I never made professional acquaintances. I never knew many people and I didn’t know how to talk to people without an agenda. So, the first thing I did was to practise the art of speaking to people without an agenda—social networking.’

It really takes an effort to speak without an agenda in professional networks, especially if you are not used to it. So, Suresh started off by having simple conversations with people in his neighbourhood. He would talk about the weather, news items and general issues. This helped him make inroads into new relationships. He applied the same principles when he started networking in professional bodies. He enrolled with TiE—The Indus Entrepreneurs, Bangalore. TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking and education. Within a short period of time, Suresh became an active member of TiE and started attending and facilitating programmes. Recently, he started Bangalore Network International (BNI) along with several other freelancers. BNI’s philosophy is simple: Give referrals to get referrals. Members register with BNI and get referrals and it is a rapidly growing networking body. Suresh also actively engages in the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and TiE workshops and gets to network with people who give him more opportunities.

Recently Suresh and some former Coopers & Lybrand colleagues came together and formed a small consulting network of freelancers to offer value-added services to customers. Recently when I met Suresh, he was telling me that some customers asked what services they offered and he pitched, ‘We offer build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) model for executing projects. Give us the overall project, we will execute and transfer it to you’. However, this didn’t appeal to clients because nobody lets go of their core and are intimidated when you say ‘BOT model’. Suresh said, ‘Seems like our service offering of BOT is not going anywhere’. I listened to Suresh and said, ‘Suresh, don’t complicate things. You guys are fantastic at SAP, project management and program management. Just offer these services and you will have no time to breathe.’ He just smiled and left.

I believe his hands are full. Often people come up with esoteric service offerings when the market is looking for exactly the kind of competencies that you possess. Just package, execute well and thrive. Why go in circles when you have a beautiful space to operate. Now this is contrary to the popular suggestion of ‘invent, grow up the value chain, and create better and new spaces’ and all that. Remember, in management there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’. What works with Sam may not work with Walton!

Suresh shared more interesting learning. He said, ‘Most of my clients were MNCs; recession came and assignments were pruned, billing went dry. Then we explored the SME segment and we realized that some companies in this segment were eager to acquire professional talent, were recession-proof and had ready assignments for us. This is a big untapped segment.’

Suresh further adds, ‘At one point in time I was uncomfortable with too much routine and now I am getting too comfortable with ambiguity. Neither is a good thing. I need to put rigour into what I want to do.’ His family is happy that he took up freelancing. He seems to have the freedom to choose his timings for better work–life balance.

If you are working, going on your own is not an easy proposition. You should have a burning desire to be on your own, skills that can help you stay afloat, advice from the right people and as few financial burdens as possible. With these in place, take the plunge and in all probability you will swim and swim well.

35

True Business-Partnering

‘I am sorry, sir, irrespective of whether it is recession or not, I can’t do business at 8.33 per cent of candidate compensation. We can do it only at 12.5 per cent for the value we bring to the table. We sincerely hope you appreciate and help us with the business,’ Zubin Shroff, head of Talent Management Group (TMG), an upcoming recruiting firm, told Navin Shivdasani, staffing head for Misys, India.

Zubin quit EMC Software as head of HR and staffing for Asia-Pacific and started TMG with offices in Singapore and Bangalore. He currently works as partner (Asia-Pacific and India) for Braithwaite Steiner & Pretty (BSP) a technology-consulting company with headquarters in Australia.

In 2007, Bruce King joined as executive VP, HR, at Misys, Plc, and recommended Zubin Shroff. I thought, ‘One more consultant coming with a recommendation from the top. I’ll speak to him for a while, offer him coffee and send him off.’ We were going through the thick of transformation and I had too many things on my mind and not enough time. Mala, my executive assistant, set up a meeting with Zubin. During the meeting, Zubin didn’t sell his services. He wanted to understand our business and my pain points in particular. As I explained how we were organized and our priorities, I could tell he could easily relate to it.

I asked, ‘Zubin, how come you understand product MNCs so well?’

He replied, ‘I worked at EMC and managed HR and staffing for Asia-Pacific and Japan.’

That gave me confidence. Here was a professional who was sticking it out on his own and understood our business. I decided to experiment by giving him a few requirements. He explained how the process worked, sent minutes of the meeting, and came back with some interesting profiles within a week’s time. He even submitted candidate assessment sheets and all his candidates appeared for interviews and joined the company when offers were extended. I concluded that he must be putting the candidates through a rigorous screening process before sending them to us. Which was good, he was solving my problems and I didn’t have any complaints.

Zubin is a gregarious person and is extremely well-groomed. He attends meetings in smart suits, carries a black diary and flashes a Mont Blanc pen as he diligently takes notes. He is an honest consultant; he will tell you what he can do and what he cannot, laying the groundwork for a strong relationship with his clients. On one assignment though he struggled to get the right candidate on board—not necessarily because of his inability, but because we had too many internal stakeholders (interviewers) and each one of them wanted the potential candidate to possess a specific competence. If I summed every aspect of what the stakeholders were looking for, even Superman (the flying guy from planet Krypton!) wouldn’t fit the bill. I think Zubin should have been upfront and not taken up such assignments or driven with clarity that such candidates don’t exist. Anyway, that was an interesting learning experience for me as well. In a lighter vein, I call such positions ‘UFOs’ (unfillable openings). They never get filled and if ever they get filled, the candidate usually has a multiple-personality disorder and that is the reason he or she has been able to satisfy at least ten different interviewers with ten different competencies. Obviously, I am kidding!

Zubin started his recruiting business in 2006 and was paying top-dollar salaries to his recruiters to hire the best talent for his clients. Results, billing and payment cycles were of critical importance to him to meet the cash-flow commitments of his start-up business. On the other hand, like every other corporation that was battling the recessionary environment, Misys was cutting down on recruitment commissions and was increasing the payable cycle. The staffing function was redrawing contracts with all the recruitment firms and had reduced the percentage commission to less than 8.33 per cent and increased the payable cycle to ninety days. Zubin too was asked to reduce his commission percentage and increase the payables cycle accordingly. This came as a shock to him. With the kind of backend operations he had, working at 8.33 per cent and a ninety-day billing cycle would spell doom for his business.

One day Zubin came over to see me in my office. He was red-faced when he entered. ‘Sir, we have an issue. In the last couple of years we have established a great partnership with Misys and have hired the best talent for you. Now, during the recession, instead of supporting us, Misys is pushing us to the brink. This is going to kill us. We request you to help us by keeping the same rates and we will stick with you all the way.’

I didn’t say anything to him immediately. I offered him a glass of water and tried to calm him down. Once he was in a better shape to listen, I explained to him that there was a corporate directive to increase the payable cycle and to cut recruiting commission percentages and that one could not do much about it.

‘In that case, sir, I won’t have any option but to not sign the contract.’

I said, ‘Zubin, ultimately the choice is yours, though I would advise you to be careful while taking that decision. See how things work out and then take a call.’ We spoke for a while longer and then he left. Subsequently, he went and met Navin, the staffing head, and conveyed his inability to work on our account.

As I reflected on the conversation, I felt bad. I knew that in the short term Misys might be making a small gain, but in the long run it would lose a valuable recruiting partner who understood what we wanted. So I talked to Navin and asked him to speak to Jennifer Lemaigre, the global recruiting head, to get exception clearances for some of our best partners. Navin convinced Jennifer and as she too understood what it takes to build partnerships, she agreed to create an exception list based on the value and success of the relationship, which included Zubin.

In retrospect I feel what I did was right. During recession many companies cut off recruitment firms or reduce their fees to a bare minimum, thus eroding the value of the partnership. Business is always a balance of short- and long-term objectives and in the process we should never lose good partners to work with. Zubin knows exactly when to work with a client and when to draw the line. He is confident of the value he brings to the table and didn’t want to compromise on his rates and payment cycles. Very few people can actually take such a stand, especially when running a fledgling start-up with cash-flow issues. Those who can, are strong mentally, sure that they can find other businesses and succeed too.

Being a true business-partner means creating a win-win situation for both the parties. One party cannot win at the cost of the other. There has to be a balance.

36

Managing Patients

Joseph King, my good friend from MindTree, introduced me to running. I began with brisk walking and once I lost about 5 kg I picked up a pair of shoes from Nike and started running. Initially I ran for 2 km every day and felt great; my body felt light and as the blood circulation improved, my pace also increased. I ran about 8 km every day, on all kinds of roads—dirt, paved, tar, cement. I even participated in marathons. I enjoyed running, and ran wherever I found a trail.

About five years later, I started feeling pain in my ankles and my heels hurt with every stride. I checked with my running mates and they said, ‘You are probably exerting. Just do it every other day and see how it works.’ Instead of every day, I now ran three to four times a week. But the pain persisted. And then one morning I just couldn’t take another step. I was in excruciating pain; I realized something was wrong and went to see an orthopaedist. He gave me some pain killers, muscle relaxants and a pain spray and sent me home. However, when the pain still didn’t subside, I went back. An X-ray did not reveal any problem, so he suggested we do an MRI. The MRI showed stress injuries to the bone. As a result, blood supply to the talus, the weight-bearing bone, had been cut off and the dome of the bone had turned brittle. My heart sank.

I asked the doctor for solutions and he said, ‘There is no definitive solution to your problem, though we could try various techniques. If the pain is really bad, we could try ankle fusion.’ Ankle fusion changes gait permanently and that put me down. I didn’t know what to do.

I started reading about my problem on the Net and met several orthopaedists in town. A senior doctor said, ‘You have to learn to manage the pain; there is no cure for your ailment.’ I met an international specialist and he said, ‘We will perform an arthroscopy to probe the joint and clean it.’ But that was like cleaning weeds in the garden; they would come back with wear and tear. Another doctor suggested core decompression, where channels would be drilled in the bone to increase the blood supply. However, I was told, the ankle couldn’t bear any weight for eight to ten weeks after the operation. Even the slightest pressure could cause the bone to collapse. In a way it was a risky proposition. Anyway, the doctor himself was not confident of his proposal. Nobody assured me, nobody gave me a probability. I met close to fifteen super-specialists in the country over a period of two years but none of them could suggest a viable treatment. With every passing day, my pain kept increasing and I knew I was heading for a joint collapse. Every morning I used to tell myself, ‘Today is a great day; I am going to find a solution.’ We all live in hope, don’t we?

By now I had a routine. I would religiously call every top hospital in Bangalore and ask, ‘Has any new orthopaedist joined? Are any specialists visiting from another place?’ One day I called Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road. The receptionist informed me that Dr Keyur Anil Buch had joined a couple of weeks back. So I decided to meet him and seek his advice. Dr Buch looked at the MRIs I had accumulated over the last two years and said, ‘Yes, we have a problem and we have a bunch of solutions. So, what do you want to do?’

I said, ‘I don’t know. You tell me.’

He looked at the MRIs again and said, ‘The right ankle is better than the left. I am happy that your joint is good and the problem is inside the bone. We could try core decompression; we will drill channels into the bone to increase blood circulation, which may help regrow the bone. Given where we are, it’s the best solution at this point. The probability of success is about seventy per cent and that is not bad from a medical point of view. You must remember, it is going to take a long time to heal.’

I blinked. For the first time in two years a doctor had proposed a solution, given me a probability of success and was confident about it. It gave me hope.

I said, ‘Doc, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?’

‘Not at all. Go ahead.’

First I asked him about his qualifications and work experience. He replied, ‘I have done MS Ortho, MCh Ortho in UK and then FRCS Trauma & Ortho.’ I did not understand what that really meant but the confidence he exuded was good enough for me.

He smiled and continued, ‘I have been doing surgeries for the last eighteen years in the UK and I have done several talus core decompressions too. I can give you references of some of my patients and you can talk to them if you want. The whole procedure will involve a couple of days in the hospital and then the non-weight-bearing period is about eight weeks. After that, slowly we start with partial-weight bearing and end up with full-weight bearing. If it makes any difference to you I also treated our prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and Mr Mittal of Arcelor Steel.’

I felt that his responses were more than good enough for me. It wouldn’t have mattered if the prime minister had had his drooping ear lobe checked and Mr Mittal had shown Dr Buch the pointed nail on his little finger.

I said, ‘I have to think it over and discuss it with my family.’

Dr Buch said, ‘Yes, you must do that. Family understanding and support is very important. You will be pretty much immobile for some time and if you are working, then you must also keep your employers informed about your debility. You may want to seek permission to work out of home. If you want we could do both the ankles at the same time, but that would completely throw you out of gear and you will need a nurse. Ideally I suggest we do one ankle at a time.’

I felt great listening to Dr Buch. He made an impression on me for two reasons. He was clear about the proposed solution and was confident that it could work. He explained the pros and cons of the operation, told me the probability of success and was willing to see me through the recovery period. In the last two years, no doctor assured me as much. I went back home and discussed the matter with my wife and we decided to go through with the procedure.

Meanwhile, my extensive research led me to Regenerative Medical Services (RMS) (www.regrow.in), a company that had a world-class lab that grew bone tissue from cells collected from the bone marrow and helped inject the new tissue into the damaged bone. Apparently, the results were fantastic. I spoke to the doctors at RMS. They took a deep interest in my case, went through the MRI results and agreed to help. Based on their consultation with other specialist doctors, they suggested a method called Chondron implantation which involves arthroscopically extracting cells from the knee cartilage.

When I met Dr Buch next, I mentioned the regenerative cell therapy and my conversations with the RMS doctors. He said that theoretically it is possible to implant bone tissue into the affected area surgically and the procedure is bound to work but wanted to get a practical understanding of the logistics and implementation. So he went through the literature, talked to the RMS doctors and called me back.

He said, ‘Prasad, it seems to show a lot of promise and if you are comfortable we could explore this option. I suggest we use Ossron therapy. For this we extract cells from your hip (iliac crest) and not from the knee cartilage. Then we will perform core decompression.’

I was confused now and didn’t know what to say. I gently said, ‘But RMS doctors recommended Chondron implantation?’

‘Prasad, trust me,’ Dr Buch replied. ‘Your joint is fine and you don’t need arthroscopy. The problem is your bone and we have to perform core decompression. I have examined your ankles and believe me, what I am proposing is the right solution.’

This was a big dilemma for me. I had two different approaches in front of me and both seemed reliable. Uncertain, I prayed and asked God for help because if the approach I chose failed then I would end up with three extra surgeries. That would be horrible. As I thought about it, it boiled down to the question of intuitive comfort. Both were qualified doctors and had my best interests in mind.

The next day, I called Dr Buch again and explained my dilemma. He sympathized with me and said, ‘Prasad, I have dealt with cases of your kind, so let me take the call. RMS is a lab with a panel of consulting doctors who go by reports. I have diagnosed and know the exact problem. I have discussed your case with the Fortis panel in our department meeting as well. Your best choice is core decompression.’

The confidence that Dr Buch exuded helped me come to a decision. I told him I would go ahead with his recommendation. I informed RMS about my decision and, being true professionals, they concurred with Dr Buch’s opinion. Two surgeries and several months of recovery later, today I am back to normal and can comfortably sprint.

I learnt several lessons from this experience:

- Don’t start any form of extreme physical activity suddenly, especially if you have crossed your thirties. It might do more harm than good. Begin your activity slowly and steadily. Your body has to get used to it.

- When in pain, stop doing what you are doing and consult a doctor quickly. You could be at the early stage of a larger ailment. Pain is the body’s way of telling you that all is not well; pay attention.

- Once you decide on a doctor, trust him completely and go with his recommendations.

- Do your own research and have an open discussion with your doctor.

- Be positive. Look for light. A positive mind will accelerate recovery.

- Don’t expect sympathy or support from your near and dear. You may or may not get it. Learn to be self-reliant. Be strong in the mind and your body will respond.

Later, as I analysed my experience, I realized what made Dr Buch different. Like any other doctor he had the right credentials and the right experience. But there was more to him—he knew how to create confidence in his patients. He knew how to discuss a case and offer not just solutions but also their pros and cons. He knew when to be flexible and when to be firm with his patients. He was willing to go the extra mile and try newer alternatives and consult with his peers. Overall, he excelled in patient management and consulting skills.

From the four-box grid above, if you have an ailment and want to get it treated, look for the perfect doctor who will not only steer you in the right direction, but also give you all the information and the associated consequences. Avoid ‘Experimenters’ at all costs. You can talk to ‘Guides’ and ‘Influence’, but eventually have to settle for an ‘Ideal doctor’.

‘Ideal doctors’ usually exhibit professionalism in other aspects as well. Unlike most doctors who scribble on the writing pad illegibly, Dr Buch wrote his prescriptions in perfectly legible handwriting. When I remarked on that, he said, ‘I value my patient’s life and want to make sure that the right medicines are given. I learnt this in the UK where penalties for even minor medical misdemeanours are extremely high.’

Once, a medical shop representative gave me the wrong medicine because he misunderstood the writing on the prescription. Since then, if I see that I’m in danger of receiving an illegible prescription, I make it a point to stop the doctor and ask him to spell the names of the medicines while I write them in block letters. At times some doctors feel miffed, but I couldn’t care less. To me doctors who cannot write legible prescriptions lack sensitivity and don’t care for the patient’s life. Avoid them or ensure that you rewrite the prescription in capital letters. Unfortunately we haven’t graduated yet to electronic prescriptions. In the US, approximately a 1,00,000 deaths are associated with lack of electronic medical prescriptions. Extrapolating that linearly, at least half-a-million deaths in India could be associated with lack of electronic medical prescriptions.

Look for doctors like Keyur Anil Buch. They make time for you and are genuinely interested in guiding you. I am happy that we have doctors like him who could be role models for many younger doctors. It just needs one to make a start.

37

Stop when the Going is Good

Dr Ganesh K. Murthy was working as senior neurosurgeon with Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Bangalore, when a person, who had met with a small accident and hurt his forehead, went to see him at the institute. A scan showed that the injury was minor and he could go home with a few stitches. However, the scan also revealed that the patient had a tumor in his brain, but the patient never complained of any symptoms. Now, the dilemma before Dr Ganesh was whether he should operate or not. The patient was asymptomatic and all body functions were normal, but the tumor was large enough to warrant action. In such cases Dr Ganesh explains the risks and consequences of the surgery to the patient and his family members to arrive at the right decision. The pressure on the treating surgeon is to have a neurologically intact patient after the tumor has been excised.

Dr Ganesh says, ‘We look for symptomatic conditions before we prescribe a surgical procedure. As far as possible we don’t touch the internals of the brain. The brain is like an integrated circuit and if something goes wrong, it becomes extremely difficult to repair. If we are not careful, people end up in a vegetative state for the rest of their lives. For us, whether to operate or not is a bigger decision than the operation itself. We are not gods. Irrespective of our experience and wisdom, every case throws up a new learning experience. This doesn’t mean we don’t know what to do, but the context of each patient’s case varies.’

When it comes to tumors, neurosurgeons face the challenge of deciding the parameters for saving a life or retaining body functions. ‘What is the point in saving a life if the person lives the rest of his life in a comatose condition? So, we do our best to save body functions. Functional preservation is our gold standard.’

In Dr Ganesh’s experience, most tumors are found under the dura, the outermost of the three layers surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Within the dura lies the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) which acts as a shock absorber. Nerves, which control speech, hearing, limb movements, tongue movement, eyelid movement, facial movement, vision and every vital organ of the body, are connected to key nerve centres in the brain. These nerves are intertwined and go through specific channels in the brain. Even the slightest damage or movement to these nerves creates havoc in the functioning of the organs. Most surgeons don’t touch these nerves and operate by circumventing them. But that is not easy. A surgeon has to prepare for each operation by studying and deciding which areas to pierce and which areas to avoid. Operation-table pictures are drawn ahead of time and a route map is created for intrusion through special conduits and channels that the brain has.

Dr Ganesh says, ‘When we see a tumor at the edge of important nerves, we don’t touch the edges of the tumor. We clean out the internals of the tumor and come out. If we clean the edge and if the nerve is damaged, then the patient loses body function. We won’t even know the extent of damage caused until after the procedure. The temptation to clean up the whole tumor is great, but my advice would be to stop when the going is good. Leave some residue; it can be treated using a gamma knife or a cyber knife, both of which are non-invasive radio-surgery methods. But if we lose a body function, then it is impossible to get it back. Even if the brain grows the tissue back, it often cannot connect back the lost circuit.’

Dr Ganesh recounts the case of a seven-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital with loss of vision in both eyes. The MRI revealed a large posterior fosse tumor that was inducing pressure on the brain. Dr Ganesh says, ‘While I explained this to her parents, the child asked me if she would be able to see after the surgery. I crossed my fingers and promised to do my best. I went ahead and operated on the tumor and excised it completely. After the child recovered from anaesthesia, she said, “Uncle, I still cannot see.” I didn’t have any answer for her. Three days later, while I was on my rounds, her mother came running to me and excitedly told me that her daughter could see. I examined the child and though her vision was not fully restored, she could see and was smiling.’

Talking about his toughest case, Dr Ganesh says, ‘I came across a four-centimetre haemangioblastoma, a vascular tumor infiltrating the floor of the fourth ventricle, adjoining nerves which control respiration, state of awakening, etc. Vascular tumors are deadly. If you cut them blood oozes like a fountain. I had to remove the tumour by working around the tumor and without transgressing into the brain stem. In these kinds of cases the chances of deficits could be quite high. Hence, I educate the patient and inform the family of the consequences. I also alert the whole team on the need for precision as well as speed. I ask the operation team to rest well before the operation and advise them to be alert.’ In this complicated case the operation was staged in three sittings and the residual tumour infiltrating the brain stem was treated with a gamma knife. The patient was neurologically intact at the end of multiple interventions.

In fifteen years as a senior surgeon, Dr Ganesh has performed more than 4000 brain and spinal-cord operations and feels that he has not even scratched the surface of the brain’s complexity. He says, ‘If a mosquito bites you on your leg, pain is conveyed through the central nervous system to the brain’s cortex, then the brain directs the eyes to see. The eyes capture the inverse image of a mosquito on its retina and the optic nerves convey this message back to the brain. The brain then sends a signal to your hand to pick a newspaper to squash the mosquito. All this happens in less than a fraction of a second. Some of these actions are stored in reflex memory and some need analysis and direction. There is nothing more complex in the universe than a human brain. I feel so insignificant dealing with such a complex organ.’

I believe management can be strongly related to the subject of medicine. There is a body of theory, a school of thought, methods to solve, facts to read, tests to perform and analyse. But the ultimate decision of next steps comes with a deep contextual insight and a certain gut feeling about the probability of success. Decision-making is tough, and tougher when the choice is between preserving life and body functions. Where does one compromise? Is stakeholder-value more important or preserving people in a company?

38

Asking for Discount

William Garcia works as managing partner for Table Force (www.tableforce.com), a company that focuses on negotiation training and consulting. Bill conducts workshops globally for multinational companies and is one of the best trainers that I have seen.

On our invitation, Bill came to Misys India to train the finance team on negotiation skills. We took him out for dinner to the Taj Residency on the first day of the workshop.

He said, ‘Give me the most famous quote on negotiation,’ and I replied, ‘During the Cuban missile crisis, JFK said, never fear to negotiate and never negotiate in fear.’

He liked what I said. He laughed and his whole body shook. Bill is a big guy and has a strong baritone voice. He said, ‘Negotiation is about asking. Ask and you get it. People don’t ask, so they don’t get. Always remember to ask for what you want and for that you need to know what you want …’

It seemed to me like he was stating the obvious and I wanted to have some fun. So, I put Bill on the spot and said, ‘All right, Bill, then why don’t you ask and get us a discount for this dinner?’

To my surprise, Bill didn’t flinch. He said, ‘That is a great idea. I will try my best to succeed.’ And he turned his head and beckoned the manager.

‘Good evening, sir, how may I help you?’

Bill said, ‘I am a guest at the hotel and I am in a bit of a spot. I need your help. I conduct negotiation sessions and advocate that often you get a discount when you ask for it. These gentlemen want to see whether it works or not. So, I am requesting you for a discount on the dinner bill.’

Vivanta by Taj (Taj Residency, Bangalore) is a five-star hotel; people normally pay 7–10 per cent of the bill as tips rather than asking for discounts. The service manager was surprised and didn’t know how to react immediately. He smiled and said, ‘I will try to do something for you. Enjoy your dinner, sir.’

Bill said, ‘Thank you. I would really appreciate if you could do something.’ With a broad smile, he added, ‘My whole career is at stake here, help me out please.’

As soon as the manager walked away, I said, ‘Hey Bill, I was joking. You didn’t have to do it. I am sorry.’

Bill replied, ‘No, no, that is all right. I enjoy negotiating. I believe we are going to get a discount. Let us see.’

I didn’t say anything. I felt bad for pushing him, especially when James Gelly, our global CFO, was also at the table. I was already regretting my actions.

James joined in the conversation and said, ‘Prasad, you don’t know Bill, he will get a discount. I have known him for a long time and trust me he will get his way.’

I just smiled and said, ‘I hope so.’

At the end of a sumptuous meal, the service manager brought the bill in a leather folder. He said ‘Sir, since you asked we have given you a token discount. I hope you appreciate it.’ The discount was between 3–5 per cent.

Bill was elated. He winked at me and I smiled back. He got up from his seat, gave his warmest smile, and shook the manager’s hand, ‘I promise you that the next time I come to Bangalore, I will stay at the Taj again.’

Taj is one of the smartest hotel chains I have come across. They realized that Bill and James were senior management people staying as guests at the hotel and complied with their request by offering a token discount and ensured repeat stay.

Bill then turned towards us and said, ‘This was a win-win for everybody. Misys saved money, I proved that my principle works and the Taj gets repeat business. So you see, negotiation works best when all parties win and that is my second tip for all of you.’

Bill concluded the dinner that night by saying, ‘Negotiation primarily involves emotions and how people deal with it. I believe that if we are going for a negotiation meeting, we should be prepared thoroughly on three aspects—what we will never cede, what we can cede and what the other party potentially wants. Often deals break because people have not applied themselves to these three fundamental aspects. Never go unprepared for a negotiation and always take time to discuss how you will encounter surprises. You don’t have to rush into decisions immediately unless you are very sure of the consequences.’

Negotiation is an art and there are some basic principles to remember:

- Successful negotiators make the other party feel that they are winning.

- Good negotiators know what to let go and what not to.

- If you are going for a negotiation, prepare well and cover all the points. If you are not prepared, do not go.

- During negotiation, if you are thrown out of balance, smile and ask for time.

- Learn to be witty during negotiations, it helps ease the situation.

- On concluding negotiations, summarize the points and get it ratified before the meeting ends.

- Attorneys have a propensity to look at a deal from a legal angle. Make sure you clearly define success factors.

- When you go for negotiations involve only the parties involved. If there are too many people, the discussions could go haywire.

- Remember, you win only if the other party wins. If the other party loses, you will lose too.

39

Combining Skills to Win Business

Divya Lobo is an architect. She recently started Fourth Dimension, an architecture firm along with two other friends. Within the first few weeks of starting her firm, she won a contract to design a 15,000-sq.-ft restaurant’s interiors. The cost of doing this project was roughly Rs 3 crore. Her commission was about 5 per cent.

She won this contract because:

- She had prepared really hard and presented cost-effective designs, estimates, schedules, resources, material mix, etc.

- She quoted the least commission of the three bidders—a reputed Mumbai architect quoted 10–12 per cent of the cost of interiors, a reputed Bangalore architect quoted 8 per cent and Divya quoted 5 per cent.

- She tied her fee to deliverables such as budget, timeline, quality and overall satisfaction.

Within a few weeks of signing this project, the client gave her a new project—to improvise on the existing interiors of a children’s go-carting arena. Then the client introduced Divya to a real-estate developer who promised her a sizeable volume of work. Within a month of starting her venture, she landed a potential order intake of roughly Rs 20 lakh.

I asked Divya, ‘How did you make it so fast?’

She replied, ‘I know I am good. I need to establish myself first by taking up excellent projects with aggressive deadlines and penalties. It’s okay if I don’t make money immediately. Money will follow if I can get to do great projects.’

I liked her confidence. Divya studied architecture from the Manipal Institute of Technology and followed it up with a master’s in urban planning and design at the National University of Singapore. She worked with Aedas & Surbana in Singapore for a couple of years, then with some reputed architects in Bangalore for two years before plunging into it on her own. She is just twenty-eight years old.

She says, ‘There is a huge difference in the working style of global architecture firms and the local ones. In Singapore, work is clearly demarcated and everybody has a clear plan and a schedule. They encourage you to focus on one area and develop your expertise. For example, a designer in Singapore would just design and wouldn’t do site supervision. However, in India an architect is expected to sell, design, plan, execute, review the site and maintain client relations. The interfaces are way too many to add value in a specific area.’

‘So, what is the big differentiator?’ I asked her. ‘You are pretty much doing what others are doing. Most people work for less money in the initial stages of their career and once they establish themselves as good architects, they increase their value.’

‘Agreed, but often people don’t get big projects even if they reduce their rates. What sets me apart is that while my rates are reasonable, I tie my fee to the success of the project. How many architects today do that? How many are willing to stake their fee on the client’s satisfaction?’

‘Not a bad idea. But what if you really don’t get paid at the end of it?’

She replied, ‘I was making decent money in Singapore and I have worked for absolute peanuts here. I know it is not comparable, but for me money is not all that important now. I want to establish myself and I want to create value for my clients.’

‘Don’t all architects want that? How are you different?’

She said, ‘I bring in architectural consulting.’

I said, ‘What is that? You ask your clients to fill in a questionnaire of what they want and then you design it?’

Divya laughed, ‘I guess most architects do what you just said. Not me.’ And then she explained the five steps involved in architectural consulting that helped win assignments:

- Understanding the client’s requirements.

- Understanding the business context.

- Modifying and convincing clients on requirements to suit context.

- Working out the design, material specs, schedule, costing, risks, agreements and penalties.

- Finally, present to win. Soft skills are so important.

To get business, it is evident that Divya combines architecture knowledge, business acumen, commercial skills, soft skills and consulting skills.

Most architects, attorneys and chartered accountants think that clients engage them for their functional or domain skills. But that is not always true. Often these specialists are engaged because they have presented a combination of these skills. Recently one of my close friends, CEO of a company, had to fire his chartered accountant (CA), who I thought was brilliant. My friend corrected me, ‘technically brilliant, but completely lacks soft skills’. Apparently this CA didn’t even have the courtesy to return calls, answer e-mails, respond to queries and never met most of the deadlines. People always get miffed with the small things, usually not the big ones.

In a dynamic world, having expertise in one area will help, but may not fetch business unless it is a combination of technical knowledge, soft skills and consulting skills.

40

Professional Organizations

I met Dr Prem Kumar Kalra during the first executive council meeting of the Systems Society of India (SSI). He is the president of the SSI and I am a member of the executive council. The SSI is a professional body of distinguished engineers and scientists from engineering, science, social studies and arts disciplines, with its headquarters in New Delhi and twenty-two chapters in different cities of India. The SSI gained popularity in the last two decades with the advancement of a systems mindset in the country, especially in academic circles with pioneering efforts from illustrious personalities such as Professor P.S. Satsangi, chairman, advisory committee on education, Dayalbagh Educational Institute and former professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT, New Delhi. The SSI encourages scientists and practitioners to study the advancement of theory, research, application and practice, keeping in view the holistic-systems approach.

However, in the last decade or so, the Society, although functioning efficiently, has not been able to make the impact across academic and business circles to the extent that it intended to. It needed renewed impetus and Dr Kalra stepped in to bring in the right energy.

Before I went for the executive committee meeting, I searched Dr Kalra’s profile on the Net. He has impeccable academic credentials. He is the director of IIT, Rajasthan, and is helping set up a new IIT at Jodhpur. He is affiliated to the department of electrical engineering at IIT, Kanpur, and works on various research projects. I was wondering how an academician like Dr Kalra would bring in new energy to the SSI. However, within the first few minutes of meeting him, it was evident that I was speaking to a man of clear management thinking who had a precise plan for bringing in the change the Society needed.

During his presidential address at the annual general body meeting Dr Kalra highlighted the strategy he wanted to adopt:

- Vision—Contribute to systems sciences at the national level and create a vibrant systems society.

- Culture—Establish a culture of innovation and excellence.

- Participation—Greater involvement by the executive team.

- Decisions—Decentralize the decision-making structure.

- Reward—Recognition at individual-chapter level.

- Technology—Web-based approach to enhance information flow.

However, executing this strategy came with its own challenges:

- The SSI was headquartered in New Delhi and had twenty-two chapters across the country in various cities. It was difficult to mobilize action across such a widely distributed network.

- It needed commitment from people at the executive-committee level and they had to give time beyond their regular day-jobs.

- Office-bearers across the twenty-two chapters had to be enthused to conduct programmes and keep the Society running efficiently.

Given these challenges, Dr Kalra attempted some core interventions:

- He formed sub-committees with teams typically consisting of three executives. Specific areas of work were assigned with clear deadlines that coincided with the next SSI meeting in which sub-committees had to recommend next steps.

- Within a month of taking over, he constituted an IT team and launched the new SSI website www.sysi.org. The website gives details pertaining to the Society as a whole and includes activities at the individual-chapter level.

- He quickly invited research papers for the SSI conference and encouraged student members to participate. Selected research papers were to be incorporated into Literary Paritantra, the SSI journal.

- He facilitated the transition of financials to the new committee. He revitalized membership by ensuring that all pending applications were cleared. In addition, he also facilitated implementation of simpler administrative policies.

These interventions helped streamline the operations and reenergized the professional body. I believe professional bodies should have a mission and a strategy to execute. It is important to have as many touch points with people as possible, otherwise members lose interest. When a professional organization is large and fragmented with multiple chapters, the best way to energize it is to create sub-committees and decentralize decision-making at local levels. Managing professional organizations requires the ability to influence people, commitment and drive.

Based on one’s profession, it is important to associate with professional organizations. For example, if you are in the knowledge industry, then you ought to be affiliated to societies such as the Computer Society of India, SSI, CII, NASSCOM and TiE. Let me try to elucidate why:

- Professional organizations act as platforms for creating awareness and for sharing new ideas. They help facilitate interaction and create opportunities for networking. The TiE for example conducts several annual conclaves across major cities in India. These conclaves help venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, service partners, senior industry members and mentors to come together and exchange information. Several start-up companies find funding and mentors through these organizations.

- Professional organizations help expand your horizon because you get to interact with stalwarts. At NASSCOM, for instance, most speakers in any forum are senior leaders from the industry who share their experiences in building companies, products, services, etc. The amount of knowledge available is unbelievable. Once, Sucharita Eashwar, senior director at the NASSCOM Bangalore office, came to meet me in my office and, in the course of the conversation, said, ‘Prasad, you must share your experiences in NASSCOM forums, otherwise how will people learn? We want greater participation from all of you.’

- Being an office-bearer of a professional organization improves your ability to influence people and take up new initiatives. If you want to be in a senior management position, then you must learn the art of influencing people and getting work done. That is the future of work—loose confederations of individuals tightly configured to achieve a common purpose.

- Being office-bearers and joining professional organizations has great résumé value. People look at what you do outside your work to improve your knowledge and networks. A friend of mine who is closely associated with the National HRD Council has often got good job-breaks because he is visible and has networked extremely well. Placement consultants keep a lookout for people in these networks.

- Some professional organizations help with research and innovation. Senior people are usually available to guide mentees. The SSI, for instance, seeks research papers related to theory and application of implementation of systems approach to diverse fields and there are mentors and guides available to help with questions relating to research, paper-writing and participation. Annual conferences help researchers address core-systems issues. Students from different institutions participate and present papers. It improves their confidence and helps them seek direction in their careers.

- If you are in a business and want to sell your products and services, then it is important to be part of relevant industry forums. You get better access to customers and your chances of increasing sales improve. People get to know about the products and services you offer and it spreads by word of mouth.

During one of my conversations with Dr Kalra, he said, ‘Professional organizations tend to become vibrant when there is value creation and when people are enthused to come forward and do something. It is the job of the office-bearers across chapters to ensure that they come out with high-impact programmes. Using Web technologies makes distances disappear and increases collaboration. Constructive collaboration is the key to advance research and innovation.’

I believe in the years to come, large professional organizations could get quite unwieldy unless managed well. They will have to act as strong facilitators and bring value to people locally at the grass-roots level. Only then can they sustain themselves as agents of change.

In a way, social and professional networking sites like Facebook and Linkedln are nothing but online forums. These social networking sites have transcended cultural, social, ethnic and regional barriers to connect people as never before. These online forums have become the global glue and are establishing new patterns in global social behaviour and connectivity. On the flip side, they are also creating social trauma and one has to learn to balance the usage of any forum. Professional organizations too are morphing into online forums, where people interact to create, have fun, influence outcomes, learn, and manage their careers.

Get going, network, join a professional forum and surge ahead.

41

Adaptive Growth

Bhuvaneshwar Naik works as VP, HR for SAP (India). Founded in 1972, SAP (Systems Applications and Products in data processing) is the market leader in enterprise application software offering applications to approximately 109,000 customers in over 120 countries.

After graduating from the Tata Institute in 1993, Bhuvan joined the Taj Group of Hotels as a management trainee. The Taj has a one-year orientation programme and trainees are expected to learn all the back-office functions. For Bhuvan, training started in the kitchen at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai.

Bhuvan says, ‘The Taj doesn’t differentiate between hotel management and management trainees from B-schools. For them, you are just a trainee. On the first day, one of the supervisors gave me a knife and a cutting-board and showed me how to peel onions and skin chicken. The kitchen supervisor then said, “Get moving Bhuvan, I need this bucket done by the afternoon.” By the time I finished peeling onions, I had tears in my eyes.’

Within two months Bhuvan was transferred to the housekeeping. He cleaned toilets, made beds, cleaned rooms, and pulled trolleys. After that, he was reassigned to the utility department where he washed utensils till 3 a.m.

Bhuvan says, ‘Training at the Taj grounded me. My swagger vanished and I learnt dignity of labour. I understood what it takes to be a team player. It was probably the best experience of my life.’

Bhuvan’s break into the IT industry came in December 1996 when he joined the Bangalore captive of Kiefer & Vettienger (K&V), a CRM company headquartered in Mannheim, Germany. K&V Bangalore had about sixty people in India, made sales force automation products and was a direct competitor of Siebel Systems.

‘The company did not have an HR department,’ Bhuvan recalls. ‘Line managers managed it and there were no systems. Not even an employee application form. I loved the challenge. I started with the basics and built processes, policies and made the HR function quite robust. The senior management of the company was amenable to change and was ready to listen. That helped me a lot.’

In 1997, SAP was contemplating buying a CRM company and opening development offices in China, India, Israel and Palo Alto as part of its global distributed development strategy. The acquisition of K&V helped fulfil both these objectives. SAP Labs (India) was established with about a hundred employees and Bhuvan was appointed head of HR.

SAP Labs started with two MDs—Udo Urbanek was brought in from erstwhile K&V and SAP deputed Werner Konik. ‘The two MDs were complementary to each other and I think their bonuses were tied to the success of the centre. They collaborated extremely well. While Udo helped grow the centre locally, Werner turned wheels in Germany to increase offshoring numbers. It was necessary to play an influencing role. The two-in-a-box concept was a great model.’

By 2003, Bhuvan was restless; he received an offer from GE and tendered his resignation. At that time Leslie Heymann was managing global HR at SAP. He retained Bhuvan and asked him to work as his executive assistant in Germany. Bhuvan says, ‘I took the executive board assistant’s role because I wanted to get a broader perspective of what it takes to run global HR based out of SAP headquarters. And I thought it would give me a peek into what happens in board meetings and help me network with senior people in Germany. It was a two-year-long assignment and I wanted to jump right in.’

Bhuvan lived in Hockenheim, Germany, 8 km from the SAP headquarters, and drove a Mercedes E-class. His performance was recognized and he was included in the top 2 per cent of the company’s global talent and sent to the INSEAD to do a specialized course. He experienced a global lifestyle and had an exhilarating time. As a forced bachelor, he relied on his Taj training and cooked, cleaned the house, washed and ironed. ‘Everything was nice, except the loneliness. How many movies can I watch and how many drives can one take? You need a family. I began thinking of coming back. The trigger came when I saw a father playing with his daughter and the next day, I informed SAP of my decision to go back.’

Leslie understood what Bhuvan was going through and agreed to send him back to India to work on HR-shared services. Bhuvan tested waters for some time and didn’t enjoy his role. Since there was no other role locally, he decided to experiment with an Internet company and joined Yahoo!.

Bhuvan says, ‘If SAP was a tie-and-suit organization, Yahoo! was a T-shirt company. But, although the colours, vibrancy and the young spirit of Yahoo! excited me, I left within a year and a half. It was a short stint. I couldn’t fully adjust to Yahoo!’s culture. I carried a lot of baggage from my SAP days—eight and a half years is a long time to be in a company. I couldn’t let go of the SAP spirit. To me, the cultures were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yahoo! was a far more informal place to work in. I thought business needed some amount of seriousness. It was the most difficult period of my career because it was making me unlearn every day. Whenever things didn’t go well, I looked for reasons to move on. It hit me hard when Yahoo! organized a five-day orientation programme for graduate trainees in a pub. During the day, it was a classroom and by evening, the crowd was swinging and partying into the night. The new recruits were on a Yahoo! high and to ground them, we organized visits to NGOs on the last day. I found the culture at Yahoo! very American; you were only as good as your last deliverable. If you did well, your performance soared and if you goofed up, you became irrelevant. In SAP, if people made mistakes, they got another chance. The company gives a longer rope. I am not saying what Yahoo! does is wrong or what SAP does is right. It is just that some people adjust to some cultures and some people cannot. Personally, I preferred SAP but a lot of my friends preferred Yahoo!. It depends upon what you are comfortable with.’

Bhuvan and I discussed and put together a simple table that determines whether one is comfortable with a culture or not. The table is based on personal experience and not on any statistical evidence.

After Yahoo!, Bhuvan joined Capgemini. Bhuvan says, ‘Capgemini is a great place to work in. I learnt how not to be trigger-happy. I stopped rushing and started looking at things from a mature and relaxed perspective. I allowed time for things to settle down and didn’t jump into solving all the frays. Not that my ambition diminished in delivering professional excellence, but I have learnt to bring family into my daily fold and I am not running after positions, roles and perks. I guess I have some more grey hair. I think my manager, Cyprian D’Souza, one of the co-founders of Kanbay and also the chief people officer, helped change my personality. He told me, “Bhuvan, when things around you appear confused, remember you have to do inner work. It is almost always the same outside. The changes we perceive are always the way we view it in our inside. “’

Meanwhile at SAP, Leslie Heymann took voluntary retirement to make fine wines in France and Stefan Ries took over and invited Bhuvan to join back as VP, HR.

Bhuvan beamed, ‘Udo Urbenek, Claus Newman, met me in Bangalore and made me an offer to come back and I accepted doing SAP 2.0.’

Throughout his career, Bhuvan learnt some important lessons:

- Don’t be in a hurry to climb the corporate ladder. It takes time for people to mature and grow. Twenty-something CEOs in the IT industry are the exceptions. For the majority, building a great career is a lifelong process. Enjoy working and you won’t feel the pinch.

- Don’t run after titles or money. Ask yourself, ‘Will this career opportunity teach me something? Are the senior people mature enough to be good mentors?’

- Check the company culture and philosophy before you join. Since there is nothing right or wrong about a culture, ask yourself, ‘Will I enjoy this culture or not?’

- Have a coach within the company. When in doubt talk to your coach and seek answers. It will help you calm down.

- If you are genuinely unhappy with the company you are working for, instead of griping and wasting your own and other people’s time, focus on getting a better opportunity that suits you.

I believe Bhuvan’s is a story of adaptive growth. At the Taj he learnt dignity of labour. While with K&V, he helped set up the HR department from scratch. With SAP, he learnt about what it takes to run strategic HR. At Yahoo! he experienced the Internet culture. In Capgemini he matured and became a seasoned professional. This is a story spread over seventeen years. It takes time to learn, to grow and to lead.

Be patient; it’s a long way to the top. Live life as you climb.

42

Mentoring is Bidirectional

Thirty-two-year-old Preetam Charan Anand is a technologist for a power management group in Texas Instruments based in Bangalore. He has about fifteen approved US patents to his credit and five more in the pipeline. He has written over twenty papers of which fifteen were published in renowned journals. Preetam manages the technology practice, a horizontal that cuts across three verticals—linear power, compute power and storage power. He specializes in VLSI design and nano technology. Working along with a team of designers, architects and engineers, Preetam helped architect the processing of information based on electrical impulses generated under the touch screen of any cellphone.

Preetam currently works on power management and chip design. He says, ‘If we feed 230 volts of AC power into a chip which needs just one volt of DC power, the chip burns off. So, in layman’s language, I am trying to build modulators or converters, which can supply just enough power. Our design is meant to reduce power consumption.’

When I asked him about a specific example of power consumption, he said, ‘Imagine you take your laptop on an eight-hour flight; our job is to ensure that you can work through the eight hours using battery power. We design the power management unit in such a way that the CPU, which is the real power-hogger, combined with peripheral devices such as the graphical processing unit, memory and interface controlling unit does not drain the battery. When the laptop is idle, the power management unit has to shut off and when the laptop is in use, it has to optimize power based on the applications being used. So, we write complex algorithmic logic around the power manager to ensure optimal utilization of power from the battery.’

According to him managing power is going to be a huge challenge in the future. He says, ‘The biggest problem is neither creation nor consumption, though people are working on both of these. The real issue is management of power. Power distribution is complex and transmission losses are huge, both at macro and micro levels. We still do not have methods and tools to manage power optimization in a more efficient and distributed way.’

Preetam graduated with a master’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is one of the most hard-working people I have met. Having seen him in action, I think the definition of hard work should include being subconsciously consumed. He watches movies, goes on hikes, listens to music, reads voraciously, all the while, somewhere in his subconscious, searching for answers to real-life technology problems. He is witty and I love interacting with him because he can talk on a variety of topics.

He began his multifaceted career as an individual contributor. He says, ‘Working from my small corner I delivered results; however within four years, my divisional head said that it is best to leverage my expertise across teams. So, the management transferred my manager and me to the newly created power management group. Within the next couple of months, my manager quit and I was given the mandate to grow it from a two-member team to a twenty-member team of designers. Making that happen was a great learning experience. As a technologist, my job is to mentor and show direction to designers who work with managers in various projects, and assume responsibility from pre-sale to customer support. I am probably the senior-most member of this group. However, I have a mentee from whom I have learnt a lot. I coach Vikram on technology issues and in the process learn various things from him. Vikram studied at IIT, Delhi, and later at Stanford University. Vikram has clarity of thought, a wonderful ability to grasp ideas and he has great appreciation for technology. He can communicate beautifully and I learn this from him. I think mentoring is a two-way lane. Mentor and mentee reverse the roles based on situations. I guess that is how it works.’

Mentoring is not a senior–junior relationship. It is a meeting of minds where people from different levels of hierarchies can guide each other. The important point is ‘bidirectional value addition’. The other day, I met a very young graduate, probably in his early twenties. He had started his company immediately after graduation and within the last year has recruited ten employees and started making revenues of about Rs 25 lakh per annum. He could easily mentor me on how to start a business from scratch and make it run successfully. After all, it was his innate desire to do business that drove him to figure out the steps by himself, without a business background. Now, he is looking for answers on how to grow and we converse regularly and I help with the strategy. We learn from each other; it is a great relationship.

Of late, Preetam has taken a deep interest in theology. He has become a mentor for a distance-education course on theology offered by Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Bangalore. He has mentored ten students in the last two and a half years.

I asked him, ‘How can you mentor students on theology? How much theology do you know?’

‘It is simple,’ he replied. ‘I learn along with them. We ask each other questions. If we know the answers, we share them; if not, we take assignments, research and teach each other. Prasad, you will have to get out of the mindset that mentoring is unidirectional. It is not like a schoolteacher dumping content on students. I cannot have answers to every question. I cannot keep downloading. I have to upload matter into my grey cells and my mentees help do that. Then, I become the mentee and they the mentors. As long as one is passionate about and has a basic understanding of the topic, anyone can become a mentor. I have read a lot about various faiths and religions, but that has only helped us understand the fundamentals. The real perspective is gained when we start debating and exchanging views. Our theology sessions are mostly discussions and that helps everybody.’

I was happy I interacted with him on the subject of mentoring. The traditional view of mentoring has changed substantially over the years and we can garner newer perspectives only when we interact with people and learn from them. Vineet Prasani, my colleague from Misys, teaches every weekend at the local school under the aegis of the ‘Teach India’ programme. ‘I teach, I learn, I enjoy. I look forward to every weekend,’ he says. Vineet is one of the best managers that I have met. He knows how to lead his team, he knows when to push back and he knows when to be kind and sensitive—skills one picks up teaching and interacting with students.

Go mentor, you might end up becoming a mentee and learn even more.

43

Breaking Myths

Erstwhile national hockey player Sandeep Somesh’s life revolves around the game of hockey. However, for two consecutive years Sandeep was not selected for any national-level games. In 1996 he was dropped from the Atlanta Olympics squad and in 1998 he could not make the cut for any of the three big games—the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. He says, ‘I thought it was over for me. But since I loved hockey I continued playing local and regional matches. One day I got a call to play a practice match with the team that had been selected to play for the Asian Games. I saw this as a chance to prove my ability and put my heart and soul into it; the match ended in a draw. M.K. Kaushik who was observing the game was impressed and asked Ashish Ballal and me to be prepared to join the team. He strongly recommended our case and managed to get us onto the team for the 1998 Asian Games. It was the high point of my life.’

While Sandeep was selected for the team, he had a perceived drawback; he hadn’t played any big international games in the last couple of years. Kaushik says, ‘Sandeep had explosive strength, was quick on the stick, and displayed short bursts of high energy which could turn some of the worst moments into a counter-attack situation. However, like most Indian players he could not last on the hundred-yard hockey ground for the full seventy minutes; stamina was an issue.’

To play continuously for seventy minutes on a hundred-yard hockey field needs great physical fitness. In this regard, the Koreans are the best; they easily outlast most teams. They train to release energy in short bursts and sustain themselves longer. They usually do not release high energy in spasmodic bursts, though front-line Korean strikers are trained to do so. When the 1998 Asian Games began, Sandeep did not play in any of the pool matches till the last one. His coach called him and said, ‘Tomorrow is the final pool match with Korea and I want you to play. I want you to mark Song Seung Tae of Korea. Sandeep, we have to win this semi-final and get into the finals. Got it?’

‘Man-to-man marking’ is a key strategy to block the opponent from scoring goals and Sandeep had to stop Song from scoring. Song was Korea’s fastest and best striker. Sandeep says, ‘I was told that once Song got the ball, he was unstoppable. He would just blaze through the twenty-five-yard mark and score goals.’

Sandeep says, ‘I was under intense pressure. I hadn’t played on the international circuit for over a year and the next day’s match was critical for India. We had to win but marking Song was like trying to stop a bullet train. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to spend some time with myself and went for a short walk. I visualized myself standing next to Song on the ground. And then I realized that while I probably couldn’t stop his movements, I could stop the ball from reaching him. Slowly a strategy emerged. I decided I would stick with Song, but the moment the ball came in the three-to-five yard range, I would dribble it away from him. I decided, come what may, I would not allow him to score a goal.’

From the moment the match began, Sandeep never left Song’s side. Song stayed most of the time near the India side of the twenty-five-yard line and Sandeep moved his position from mid-field to quarterback to shadow him. Song quickly realized that Sandeep was marking him, and tried to sprint towards the ball to grab it, but each time Sandeep managed to take the ball away. Intent on his task, Sandeep forgot the world and the spectators in those seventy minutes. Song did take shots at the goal, but thanks to Sandeep’s efforts he could not turn the match in Korea’s favour. Sandeep had effectively neutralized him and India won against South Korea.

Sandeep says, ‘After we won the match, my confidence soared, I was not in awe of Song anymore. I knew I could manage him. Coach Kaushik appreciated my efforts and I felt great.’

In the 1994 Asian Games semi-finals, India won against Japan and in the finals, Korea shredded India to pieces. Once a match is played, whether they have won or lost, the Koreans go through the recording of the entire match and dissect it frame by frame. They piece the strategy adopted by the opponents and decimate the opponents in their next game. Sandeep was convinced that Korea would analyse his strengths. The Koreans would know that he was good at short sprints. Meanwhile, Sandeep’s coach told him that he was in for the finals and that he had to mark Song again.

Sandeep asked himself, ‘What would I do if I were Song? I would make the opponent sprint more. I would grab the ball from mid-field and take it to the D-ring to score. Given his level of fitness, Song could easily do that to me. So, I will have to prove to Song that I can endure. I have to draw Song behind the twenty-five-yard line. The longer Song stays with me, the less chances he will have of scoring.’

The finals kicked off and Sandeep started marking Song. As expected, Song wanted to drain Sandeep’s energy. So, Song ran to the centre line to pick the ball and Sandeep followed him. Sandeep also sustained his energy for the first fifteen minutes of the game to match Song’s speed. On every occasion when Song picked the ball from the centre line, Sandeep took the ball away from him. Sandeep says, ‘Since I didn’t play any other pool match in that series, Song didn’t have too many data points about me. He thought that I was good both in short sprints and also the long runs. So he quickly re-strategized and pushed his way deeper into the twenty-five-yard line. This is exactly what I wanted. Song was in my trap now and I continued to effectively block him.’

After seventy minutes of play, the teams were tied 1–1 and heading for a nerve-wracking tie-breaker. Ashish Ballal, the goalie, stopped two strokes. Ramandeep Singh, Mohammed Riaz, Baljeet Singh Dhillon and Mukesh Kumar all scored for India for a final score of 1–1(4–2). After a gap of thirty-two years, India won its second Asian Games gold medal in 1998.

Sandeep says, ‘Often pressure and fears are in the mind. Once we rationalize and decide on a strategy, the chances of success increase. I have learnt not to be in awe of opponents. People create myths around them. They use phrases like ‘lightning speed’ and ‘electric striker’. These phrases stick to people and others start believing in them. I think opponents are equally human, have their own strengths and weaknesses that we have to figure out. I believe having core skills is crucial, but it is the strategic perspective that determines winning.’

Sports analytics is fast emerging as an important determinant of strategy. Sandeep watched a match between Australia and Argentina in which Australia was substituting its players almost every fifteen minutes. The whole strategy was methodically planned. They knew that irrespective of how fit a player is, it is humanly impossible to sustain high energy levels for seventy minutes. So they ran analytics-based substitution techniques. While the match was going on, the Australian coach, trainers and support-team members used cameras, roll-in mikes, laptops, analytic tools and charts that indicated the physical fitness, endurance and stamina of each player. They knew when to pull out which player and when to send substitutes. They timed and tagged each player on the field and once a particular player reached a point of exhaustion, they sent substitutes. So, throughout the seventy-minute match, the Australians played with the same tempo and gusto.

Sandeep says, ‘Winning becomes easy because strategy and execution attain singularity in real time. The sport is being simulated to get predictable outcomes. Besides skill, teamwork and other such human factors, technology-based analytics is fast emerging as a key factor in determining success. Sports not only teach team spirit and winning, they also teach how to break myths, unlearn, use data for decision-making, and think strategically.’

Theme 5: Passionate and Lead from the Front

The men and women in these stories are passionate people who display leadership by leading from the front, especially in crisis situations. They deliver high performance under difficult circumstances and can withstand pressure for long periods of time. They are fearless and face even the toughest challenges head-on. They spring back from personal disasters and reestablish themselves. They are strong in adversity and mould their behaviours accordingly. Their ability to take tough decisions, in line with their innate philosophy, makes them winners. Once they make up their mind, they persist with and persuade people to support them in their endeavours. Their sincerity and honesty inspires trust in other people. These men and women are intuitive and can sniff out problems easily. Always willing to help, their unbiased and impartial approach makes them adept in solving people-related problems. They are role models who have the ability to network and carry people along with them, giving hope and bringing about change. They dream about a better life and pursue the path to success. For these people, walking the path is at times as important as the destination itself, and they make sure their teams complete the journey with them.

44

Building Trust

Ullas Kamath currently works as deputy MD for Jyothy Laboratories, a Rs 650-crore FMCG company, which makes products related to fabric care, personal care, insecticide and fragrances.

I met Ullas in 2003. He was selling his apartment and we wanted to buy it. My wife Savitha and I went to meet him in his office. He received us warmly and we introduced ourselves.

During the conversation he asked, ‘Did you see the apartment? Did you like it?’

We said, ‘Yes, we liked it a lot.’

‘All right,’ he said, ‘the apartment is yours.’

‘But we haven’t discussed the price yet.’

He laughed and said, ‘Quote your price and take the apartment.’

Savitha and I looked at each other, and then gave an indicative market price.

‘Done. Let me know what else I can do for you?’

Savitha hesitantly said, ‘Since the buying formalities are going to take time, would it be all right if, in the meantime, we started on carpentry work?’

Ullas quietly opened his drawer, took out a set of keys, handed them over to Savitha and said, ‘These are the house keys and I will give you a letter addressed to the building security saying that the house now belongs to you and that you can start carpentry work.’

Savitha and I were overwhelmed. Other than verifying the papers, we hadn’t done anything. We hadn’t paid him even a paisa in advance and he was handing over the keys to his apartment.

‘Ullas,’ I said, ‘we may not be able to give you the advance right away; it may take a couple of weeks.’

He said, ‘Never mind about the advance. Give it to me when you are ready.’

I asked him, ‘Ullas, what makes you trust us so much that you would give us the keys on our first meeting, and that too without the advance?’

Ullas smiled and said, ‘I trust people. I know when to trust somebody. Let me tell you something interesting. Our philosophy is to provide employment in India’s hinterland. So, in 2002, we built a plant in Guwahati, employing mostly rural women. A couple of months ago I informed my team in Guwahati that I would be visiting the following week and asked them to keep some reports ready.

‘The employees in Guwahati heard about my visit and advised our local officers to cancel the trip because of activism-related problems. They were worried for my safety. When I spoke to the local official, he said, “Sir, we need these jobs and if anything were to happen to you, the company might shut the plant here. What will happen to our families and children? Please, don’t come.”

‘I told him, “Don’t worry, I will come and if need be, I will talk to the activists and explain to them what we are doing and how we are creating employment in the state. If I don’t come, they will think we are cowards. I would rather lose my life, than stay back.” ’

Savitha and I were listening to him intently.

‘I went to Guwahati as planned and met with our women employees. We were able to communicate to the activists what we were doing and also explained how we were helping the state of Assam. I showed statistics on the number of people employed, the number of women employed and how many families depended on the plant. I think they understood that we meant well for their families and for the state. Fortunately, through the grace of God, our Guwahati plant has been working very well.’

I said, ‘That is amazing, Ullas.’

He smiled and continued, ‘We also ran an awareness programme for our employees. We told them how much they were contributing to the company and their community and showed them a lot of data. We encouraged them to talk to their families and within their neighbourhoods. In troubled places, it is important to tell people what we do and communicate with them as much as we can, and garner the community’s support. I believe my employees have always helped me, saved me and given meaning to my life. I trust them implicitly. As I said earlier, I know when to trust people.’

In 2008, the CA Business Achiever Award was conferred on Ullas in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segment by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The awards were instituted to recognize and honour the achievements of chartered accountants in professional, personal and community services. Ullas joined Jyothy Laboratories over seventeen years ago and has been instrumental in transforming the organization from a proprietary concern to a multibrand FMCG company, with brands such as Ujala, Maxo, Exo and Jeeva. He has helped create direct-employment opportunities for over 2000 people in manufacturing and 1500 people in sales in underdeveloped areas like Mehboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, Bishnupur in West Bengal, Guwahati in Assam, Roorkee in Uttarakhand, Silvassa in Dadra and Nager Haveli, Wayanad in Kerala, and in Jammu.

Ullas has a positive energy, an air of confidence about him that I could sense when he spoke to us. It takes courage to do what he did. Leadership is about standing up to difficult situations in the field where it is needed the most.

45

Trees for Free

By late 2005, IT, ITES (information technology-enabled services) and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies sprang up like mushrooms in late monsoon. Bangalore’s infrastructure began to burst at its seams and the traffic situation worsened. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) swung into action and came out with road-expansion plans, which included felling trees. Newspapers carried articles, people protested in their blogs, socialites gave quotes for Page 3, but only one person decided to act.

Janet Yegneswaran’s husband had passed away in 2003 and for two years after that she continued her work as a garden-and-landscape architect. When she heard about the furore, she thought to herself, ‘I can’t stop people from cutting trees, but nobody can stop me from growing them.’ So one day she walked up to a house in her street and said, ‘I am a social worker and plant trees for free. Can I plant a tree in front of your house? Would you water it and take care of it? You can choose the tree and I will plant it for free.’ India is an agrarian society, and somewhere deep down everybody has a tree in their DNA.

The neighbour smiled and said, ‘We would be glad to and we promise we will take care of it.’

And Janet’s tree-planting journey started.

She first started planting trees in her street. Then people in the next street called her, and soon she was planting trees all over her neighbourhood, in open areas, on roadsides, in front of houses, in residential complexes, apartments, schools, colleges and universities. She had a simple rule: ‘Show me the place and I will plant a tree for you, just promise me that you will look after it.’

So, how does she generate the funds?

She says, ‘The cost of planting a tree is Rs 100. It includes procuring the sapling, identifying a place to plant, buying the tools, making a pit and planting the sapling. Initially I asked people for goodwill contributions and people did it on their own volition. Depending upon how much money I had, I planted saplings.’

When TV9 and the Bangalore Mirror covered her work, people sat up and took notice. Janet began getting calls from companies that wanted to help. Yahoo!, Applied Materials, J.P. Morgan, Epson, Indian Railways and Accenture were some of the organizations that came forward to help Janet in this initiative. ‘It was easy for any company to give me Rs 10,000 and send employee volunteers over the weekend to plant hundred trees.’ With the money and the manpower taken care of, her next challenge was to identify places to plant and people who would take care of the sapling. So, she approached universities, colleges, builders and the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike) who agreed to provide her with bamboo tree-guards and also gave her a letter authorizing her to plant trees adjacent to the pavements wherever appropriate.

Since she began, Janet has helped plant 18,000 saplings, plants and trees in and around Bengaluru. Now let us look at the math. In four years, she planted 18,000 trees. That’s 4500 trees a year, 375 a month and twelve a day. According to a study conducted in the US in seven cities and their suburbs and counties by Raile and Leatherberry in 1988, an acre in a thick forest has about 480 trees. In urban places, it is approximately 204 trees. In Bengaluru, let us assume that the tree cover is only 50 per cent. So an acre will have approximately 102 trees. Going by these assumptions and calculations, Janet has recovered a whopping 176 acres of urban land in Bengaluru. Apparently one acre provides oxygen for eighteen people a day. Assume that in Bengaluru, one acre generates oxygen for only nine people. That means she is responsible for generating the oxygen required for 3176 people for one year. If an acre of trees absorbs 2.6 tons of carbon every year, Janet’s trees are absorbing about 450 tons of carbon from Bengaluru’s polluted environment. Not an easy task to accomplish. It is just a matter of time before she ends up being the only individual with the largest carbon credits globally.

When I asked her what her vision was, she said simply, ‘Planting trees.’

Check out her website—www.treesforfree.org—it is as simple as her vision is. People can contribute, volunteer, identify a place to plant trees or do whatever they can to help grow trees. If you are a tree-planting member, you are expected to contribute Rs 100 every month to plant one tree. Recently, Janet introduced the concept of planting trees on birthdays and anniversaries.

Janet is not a charismatic individual; she doesn’t give great speeches and is certainly not the kind of person who can motivate you with a pep talk. She is simple and down to earth. Yet, she has displayed unique leadership skills by leading from the front. She began the planting herself and continues to do so even today. She has a dedicated team of about 150 tree-planting volunteers who spend weekends planting trees along with her. Many volunteers join her because they identify with the cause and that fulfils them.

Leadership is not about charisma or great speeches; it is about showing the light and taking the initiative to do the right thing. There will be criticism and all kinds of comments, but if you persist, people will rally and you will definitely see success.

46

Standing Tall

On Sunday, 18 August 2002, two-time Shaurya Chakra winner (one posthumously) Colonel K.J. Singh stepped out of his bunker in Naushera, Jammu and Kashmir, for a quick reconnaissance and a bullet pierced the base of his neck. His head hit the rock in front and he collapsed. Colonel Singh was the commanding officer of the Sixth Battalion of the Dogra Regiment. He became a martyr and India lost a leader.

It is extremely difficult to be a soldier’s wife, especially when your spouse is on the front and a war is on. Families at home live on the edge of their seats. Their hearts skip a beat every time a call or a conversation is missed. Colonel Singh talked to his wife Anuradha every day at a designated time. On that fateful day when she called, his officer answered, ‘Colonel KJ is hurt and is in hospital.’

This was not the first time Anuradha had heard this. She asked, ‘How bad is it?’

The officer replied, ‘Pretty bad, ma’am.’

‘Is he no more?’

And the officer said, ‘I am sorry, ma’am.’

Tears trickled down her cheeks as Anuradha disconnected the call and let out a loud wail, overwhelmed with grief. Hearing this, her family came to her aid. Meanwhile, several families from the army had come over to see her and give her the news. Even before anybody could say anything, Anuradha said, ‘I know.’ Everybody sat in silence around her. When the phone rang, Anuradha’s brother took the call. It was an officer from the army asking where to send the colonel’s body. Anuradha lived and worked in Bengaluru, but Colonel Singh’s old ailing mother lived near Pathankot.

‘Pathankot,’ Anuradha replied. ‘KJ was born there. He has to go back to his roots.’

A few days later, Anuradha and her family went to Pathankot to attend the funeral. Anuradha says, ‘Akanksha was eleven years old and she gave me so much support. Children change with calamities in life and I think she became a woman that day.’

A chapter in Anuradha’s life had come to an end and she completely removed herself from the world. She was depressed for months. She refused to meet people and lost interest in everything. It was as if the future held nothing for her. Eventually, however, Anuradha had to face the next set of challenges—insurance, money, property, court cases, and raising a child. She had been waiting for somebody to lift her up and help make things happen, but soon she realized that she was on her own. And KJ wouldn’t have wanted her to fall apart. That is when she started opening up.

The army supported Anuradha every step of the way, helping her resolve court cases and property issues, expediting insurance payment and getting her a house in the army board. Most importantly, they made her proud of her husband. When you are proud of something, you talk about it, and over time you purge it from your heart. Anuradha’s spiritual guru advised her to continue prayers, meditation and participate in community activities, all of which helped her substantially. He told her to focus on raising her daughter well and working hard for her company. He created a purpose in her life, helped calm her mind and re-enter society. Anuradha took his advice seriously and immersed herself in everyday life. She started spending more time with her daughter, travelling and meeting new people.

Anuradha says, ‘My friends from my university days supported me a lot. They spent time with me, chatted with me and, importantly, stopped sympathizing with me after sometime. They said, “You had a good time with KJ; he wouldn’t have wanted to see you like this. You must start living your life again.” ’

She continued with Biocon for some time and then got an opportunity to work as general manager for ICON Central Laboratories, where she is now immersed in setting up a world-class lab. Her daughter has also grown into a nice young girl.

‘I am glad I did not give up. My parents, brothers and my sisters-in-law stood by me like a rock, and I can never thank them enough. Having family support is so very important. Educating young girls is more important to me now than ever before. If women have a good education, they can stand on their feet even in difficult situations. Imagine if I were not educated or didn’t have a job, what would have happened to me? I thank my parents every day for educating me.’

There are great lessons in her story. People go through transformative experiences in life when they lose somebody who is dear to them. It is good to despair; the tears eventually cleanse the heart and allow people to start again with a clean slate. It is important to have a mentor, maybe a spiritual guru if you are so inclined, a supportive family and lots of good friends who genuinely care for you. Creating a purpose or a goal in life helps people focus on the future.

One big lesson for parents: make sure you educate your girls. Teach them to stand on their feet, to stand tall. Neither you nor they will ever regret it.

47

Passion plus Competencies

Balwant Jain is the founder and CEO of Optimum Solutions, Singapore. The company provides staff augmentation and IT consulting services for multinational clients. I met Balwant in 1996 when I was briefly working with Mastech, Singapore, and he was a senior sales manager. Mastech is an IT services company predominantly into staff augmentation and IT consulting. Balwant graduated from IIT, Delhi, and got a post-graduate degree from IIM, Ahmedabad. He never had any pretences about his job. He just loved what he was doing. He didn’t place too much emphasis on his credentials. One day I asked him, ‘You have such impeccable credentials. How do you feel about being in the IT staff augmentation and consulting services business?’

He replied, ‘I love doing what I do. I love to sell, I love client interaction and I love being with people. This job helps me do all these and it is a win-win for all. The company grows, the client gets his work done and the employee is happy making money. So where is the problem?’

During those days, we had several conversations about starting a business in Singapore. He once asked me, ‘TGC, what do you think about starting a consulting services business together? We have clients, we can get people and we can do great business.’ I politely declined because I didn’t think I was cut out for the time-and-material business. Instead, I proposed that we start a projects business. Balwant said, ‘Singapore is not mature enough for the projects business. Let us start with time and management and we can mature into the project business.’ I was not convinced. I thought it was very difficult to scale up the value chain.

During most of our conversations, I realized that he was passionate about the IT consulting business. His eyes brightened up every time a client called with requirements. I realized it was not right on my part to convince him otherwise. He had a dream and I encouraged him to pursue it.

Balwant quit Mastech in 1997 and started Optimum Solutions in Singapore. He initially approached clients he knew and requested them to give him an opportunity. Fortunately the clients agreed and Optimum Solutions took off. He then started a network of recruiters to fulfil the positions and watched his company grow. In the initial days, when he badly needed cash, his close friends and family chipped in.

He says, ‘I initially struggled a lot. Since we were a small company, cash flow was a problem, but we managed to sustain ourselves. In this business establishing trust with employees and clients is critical and that is what I focused on, right from day one. I hired people who were honest and hard-working. We placed emphasis on processes and predictability of operations and clients loved us for that.’ Balwant has seen lots of ups and downs in his business since its inception. But he believes that once you take up a business, you should be steadfast and make sure it is successful. If you aren’t confident of running the business, then it is better to cut your losses and move out. Employing like-minded talented people is important to run a business. They become springboards for discussions.

Balwant says, ‘You can never let your clients down. If you commit, then you have to deliver. That is the only way to build your brand and credibility. Similarly with employees, you have to be honest about what you can and can’t do.’

In the last fourteen years, Balwant has made Optimum one of the largest professional-services and IT-applications development companies from Singapore. Optimum’s revenues are roughly $75 million and the company has offices in the US, India, the Philippines and China, with 1200 employees globally. Balwant scaled the organization’s value proposition from a small niche player to a decent mid-sized organization. He built his management team carefully, selecting candidates based on the following parameters:

- Are they passionate about this business?

- Are they operationally strong?

- Are they honest and straightforward in their dealings?

- Do they have the ability to scale the business?

- Do they have the ambition to grow in life?

- Can they interact with global clients?

- Do they have the commitment to stick for a long time?

- Do they have the right values?

- Are they team players?

‘I gave more emphasis to their attitude than their technical and operational skills. One can easily acquire technical skills, but having people with the right outlook is a boon.’

I recently met Balwant at the Windsor Manor Hotel, Bengaluru, after a long time and enquired about his business. He laughed and said, ‘I have a client on the other side of the lobby, interviewing for requirements. I love my business and, guess what, we have scaled up to do fixed-bid projects too.’ I was very happy to hear that.

If you want to succeed in business, you must love what you are doing. That is the secret to success. Many people take up a vocation, job or a business because of pressure from their families or because they simply don’t know better. Very few people step back and ask the fundamental questions—‘Is this what I want to do? Is this something I will enjoy doing? Will this fetch me what I want in life? Will this be my long-term career?’ It is not easy to find answers to a lot of these questions. If you’re in doubt, ask your friends and family, ‘What am I good at? What are my strengths? What do you think makes me most happy?’ Compile the answers to these questions and slowly you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I believe Balwant is successful because he is extremely passionate about his business, and he has the right competencies needed to succeed. For example, his business model requires strong relationships and networks. Balwant can comfortably establish a network and identify talent within minutes; his personal address book probably has more than 6000 entries under different categories. Balwant is extremely quick on math. Give him a complex business problem and he will sort it out on his fingertips. But his greatest strength is his clarity of thought and his ability to make business plans within hours. And once he enters a relationship, Balwant makes sure it stays for a long time. ‘I keep clients for a lifetime,’ he proudly admits.

Passion alone cannot create successful companies. It should be backed by strong business competencies and the will to succeed.

48

The Desire to Make Money

‘So, what is the official fax ID for Scotland Yard?’ asked V.V.L.P. Raju.

‘Handcuffs, sir,’ I replied.

‘Next question. What game can be played on the moon?’

‘Golf, sir,’ I replied.

Raju’s brows twitched. ‘Which is the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean?’

‘Mariana Trench, sir,’ I replied.

Raju exclaimed, ‘Not bad, not bad at all! And finally, which bird can turn its head 270 degrees?’

‘The owl, sir.’

These were the first set of questions Raju asked when I joined as a fresher in engineering college. This was his way of ragging me. His day started with studying trivia and his day ended with solving crosswords. He qualified for the finals of Kaun Banega Crorepati, the popular TV game show hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and won Rs 25 lakh in prize money. Raju says, ‘That was the high point of my life. Sitting in front of Shah Rukh was awesome.’

Raju has been collecting all sorts of informative and general affairs magazines since his college days. He has a collection of one lakh books and magazines at home. He says, ‘Some people love gold. I love paper. I feel that every printed paper that I read is valuable and I don’t feel like throwing it away.’ He laughs and says, ‘So, I preserve every piece of information, unless it is a classified advertisement.’

Over the years, Raju has collected every issue of Reader’s Digest and Harvard Business Review, both of which were first published in 1922, and National Geographic, first published in 1888, since their inception. So, one can imagine the number of volumes he has. Besides these three magazines, he also has collections dating back to the first editions of the India Today, Frontline, and The Week, both the British and Indian formats.

After completing his studies in engineering, Raju took the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), scored 2220 with full marks in the analytical section, and went to the US where he worked for almost ten years before returning to India. He worked for a few years at Intel in Bangalore and later Microsoft in Hyderabad till the urge to do something on his own overtook him. ‘All the years I worked, I felt restless, eager to venture out on my own, something to do with general affairs and trivia. It was after I interacted with the student community in Hyderabad that I realized there was a big demand for a magazine which could offer content related to general knowledge.’

So, in 2006, he quit Microsoft to start a general-knowledge magazine called Start Winning Today. The magazine targeted students and each monthly issue was priced at Rs 20. Raju says, ‘We sold 500 copies a month and to increase brand awareness distributed almost 1500 to 2000 copies. We were earning about Rs 10,000 and spending almost five lakh a month. In the last three years, we generated revenues of Rs 10 lakh and cumulatively spent Rs 3 crore, liquidating two houses and most of my savings in the process. I still hold Rs 1-crore worth of copyrighted digital content.’

‘If you don’t know who your customers are,’ I told him, ‘and if you don’t have a decent business plan and a workable cash-flow forecast, then you are not running a business. You are pursuing an expensive hobby.’ I was probably harsh with him, but he was bleeding money trying to sustain his passion, and I wanted to help him.

By mid-2009 Raju was nearly broke and he realized that he had to cut costs and restructure his business. He first began by moving to the Web as the medium, since this doesn’t entail printing and distribution costs. This helped significantly reduce his expenses and he cut costs by almost 90 per cent. He now runs the business for less than Rs 50,000 a month.

He says, ‘It took time for me to realize that I had to do something different. I was under intense pressure and had hardly any direction. I concentrated more on content creation than on customer segmentation and revenues. I was not focused on making money. I believed that if I had the right content, people would automatically buy the magazine. Now I know that along with good content we must also have a strong distribution network, advertising budgets and deep pockets. We spent almost Rs 130 to get each issue out. We used the best paper, best colours, best printers, best designers and best of everything. Our biggest costs were printing and mailing. I wanted to make the magazine the National Geographic of general knowledge.’

By late 2009, as part of second phase of restructuring, he launched www.gkpedia.com, a content site for children, kind of an equivalent of Wikipedia. Eventually, he wants to turn this into a flagship product, though he still is undecided on the revenue model. He says, ‘Once traffic comes by, monetization becomes clearer.’ I sincerely hope so, though I strongly believe that he should have a business model in place.

Again, since gkpedia.com was not generating any revenues, on insistence from friends like us, leveraging on his core strength of providing content, he looked at the test-preparation market for civil services, and in September 2010 launched the website www.iasexams. com and rechristened his magazine Start Winning Today to Current Affairs and made it a free downloadable. He now sells model test-papers via this site, sales are slowly picking up and I hope will shortly meet his operational cash flows.

The Web model has changed his outlook substantially. The content on www.gkpedia.com is global and can be customized to local requirements, too. He now feels that he can generate 1,00,000 consistent hits by the end of 2011 and is banking on search-engine optimization. Online users have started responding positively and about 25,000 users are visiting the website every month.

Raju says, ‘We have learnt the lesson the hard way. Now, I am viewing the venture as a business than as passion. My target segment is the student community and even if I can generate 50,000 paid Indian users every year my business model will fetch Rs 50 lakh per annum and I’ll be able to recover my losses within three years.’

While I am happy that he cut his costs, I am concerned that he has not been able to clearly spell his revenue model. So in the last couple of months, I have been pushing him to come out with a revenue model and a business plan, which he is struggling to come up with, because it is extremely difficult to predict the tipping point. I hope he gets traffic and the scenario changes quickly.

We have to wait and watch how his story unfolds. He will have to power pack the content, segment it for the right users and generate revenues. Presumably he has the right model in mind. It obviously needs fine-tuning. I like Raju’s passion; he still hasn’t given up after such big losses. Passion has to be steered in the right direction; else entrepreneurs can easily swing the wrong way. There are significant lessons to be learnt in starting and running a business.

Recently, I met with a bunch of struggling entrepreneurs. All of them were passionate and had started their ventures in a hurry, without a business plan and a clear understanding of who their customers were. Some people tell me that they don’t have a business plan and their businesses are doing well. My answer to them is, ‘Good for you. You have been lucky. Most others aren’t.’

If you want your business to succeed, then you should have a strong desire to make money and really feel bad if you lose money. And if, after trying everything, you still don’t make money, then cut your losses, get out, and don’t waste your time anymore. Many entrepreneurs say, ‘I know my idea will succeed.’ I ask them three fundamental questions: What are you selling? Who is your customer? Why does the customer want to buy your product or service? If they have reasonable answers, there is a decent chance of success. I do understand that some of the ideas are innovative and create a special need in the market. In those cases we have to look at several other parameters, such as market maturity to accept such a solution and the ability to stay invested for a long time. I believe businesses that address a ‘need’ have a better chance of succeeding than businesses that address a ‘want’. Businesses which create a strong ‘need’ or a ‘want’ should have strong differentiators to grow.

While there are no thumb rules in business and everything is contextual, my father had a simple rule to follow, ‘Make a plan on when you will be profitable. If you don’t see profits within the first three months, then re-examine the fundamentals.’

49

Mulberry Meadows

Sudarshan Reddy dropped out of school in the tenth standard. I once asked him why he didn’t study further and he laughed and said, ‘Sir, educated people become teachers and the uneducated ones make schools.’

Sudarshan is the managing director of a real-estate company and has wanted to become a businessman since his childhood. His primary interest was to have a better life and for that he needed to make money. At school, he felt he could not sit in a class and study for hours. That was just not for him. He says, ‘Sir, even today, I just cannot listen to a lecture. I feel something is wrong. I can’t sit for long in meetings either. It has to start with what we are meeting for, what we should do, who should do what and by when. Meetings should be over within fifteen to thirty minutes.’

‘What about planning, debating on issues, and arriving at a solution the right way?’

He laughed and replied, ‘All that must be done before the meeting sir.’

Sudarshan began his career as an office boy in a local pharmacy which supplied medicines to all the villages nearby. His job was to talk to doctors, meet patients, collect prescriptions, deliver medicines, keep a note of the inventory and collect money. For doing all these tasks, he was paid Rs 750 a month and given a cycle to for his errands.

He says, ‘Dealing with villagers is very difficult. Most villagers took medicines on credit. They paid if they were cured and didn’t if the ailment persisted. They would say, “Look at me, am I cured? Your medicines didn’t work. Why should I pay?” At times, I had to meet them multiple times to collect just Rs 10. I got tired of delivering, collecting and listening to abuse from everybody. Over a period of time, my cycle and I became inseparable; it seemed like an extension of my body. I used to get on my cycle when I woke up and get off it just before going to sleep. Every day, I cycled about 25–30 km. It was very difficult to cycle in the summer, especially when temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius. The hot sun scorched away whatever little energy was left in my body. I couldn’t buy soda; it cost fifty paisa which was too expensive for me. So I drank water from the government-installed hand-pumps. When you try pumping water, first steam comes out, followed by the trickle of water. I worked for a year and made about Rs 9000 and then told the pharmacist that I could not work anymore and left.’

After the pharmacy job, his father asked him to help graze cattle and he agreed to do that as he didn’t have anything else to do. He would leave home at six in the morning, let the cattle loose to graze and sleep under a tree and return home by afternoon. After lunch, he would rest for a while and head to the village centre to sit under the panchayat tree and gossip. One day, he saw the sarpanch paying cash to the local fertilizer-and-seed supplier. Sudarshan asked him ‘Anna, don’t you get credit? Why are you paying cash?’ The sarpanch laughed and replied, ‘Nowadays, who gives credit to buy seeds and fertilizers?’

Sudarshan thought this was a great business. People got paid on delivery! So, he pestered his father to sell a portion of their ancestral land and raised a capital of Rs 1 lakh. With this money, he set up a fertilizer shop near Proddutur in Rayalaseema district of Andhra Pradesh. As a wholesale distributor he purchased seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and sold to farmers. He says, ‘I bought a second-hand motorcycle and this was used to carry fertilizer sacks everywhere. Each day, I drove 100 km, meeting smaller distributors and farmers. Nobody knew as much about fertilizers and seed details as I did.’

At the end of his first sales cycle he made a profit of Rs 4500 and celebrated with friends by taking them out for dinner. It had not been a bad start at all. The principal hadn’t diminished and was lying as stock and now he could generate additional income. At the end of the first year, he earned about Rs 1.5 lakh. He was the owner, employee, delivery boy, stock keeper and accountant for his business. He had one helper boy who assisted by sitting in the shop when Sudarshan stepped out.

Life was all about seeds and fertilizers, until one day in 2005 when Sudarshan went to Hyderabad to visit a cousin who was in the real-estate business. His cousin bought land at Rs 20 lakh an acre, spent another Rs 5 lakh developing it and sold plots at Rs 250 per square foot. He was making phenomenal profits. Making layouts is a simple idea—buy a large tract of land, develop it, get it legally approved, split it into smaller pieces and sell them. With a few good deals, one could potentially retire early. Sudarshan thought this was a fantastic opportunity and decided to enter the real-estate business. Coming from a farming background, he knew how to acquire land and get paperwork done. The rest was about selling and he had the confidence. Also, he had the right mindset to deal with risks and eventualities.

He said, ‘Initially I wanted to start my business in Hyderabad but my friends insisted that I go to Bengaluru, because it was the IT hub and people had money to invest. I was hesitant because I could not speak English or Kannada. Anyway, I decided to survey the market and came to Bengaluru and found that most real-estate people spoke Telugu and clients purchased plots based on location, price and legal clearances. Language truly didn’t matter. The IT industry was booming and people were looking for the right investments, so I decided to start my real-estate business in Bengaluru.’

A few months later Sudarshan arrived in Bengaluru. His friends had invested their life’s savings in his business and sent him to pursue his dream. He took a two-bedroom house in Sahakar Nagar, started scouting for the right place and quickly found one near the new Bangalore International Airport. Land was expensive, but he went ahead and purchased four acres, completed all the legal paperwork and developed a layout called Mukund Meadows. Once the layout was reasonably ready, he looked up his references and started approaching software professionals. People came to see the layout, liked the location and decided to buy—the price was right, the paperwork was clean and all the legal approvals were in place. This was Sudarshan’s first big win in real estate. He made decent money and paid his partners a share of the profits. By 2006 he moved his family to Bengaluru.

In 2007, along with other partners, he started Mulberry Meadows, a fifty-nine-villa gated residential community project with a world-class clubhouse and first-rate amenities, just 6 km ahead of the international airport. He attracted some truly high-profile clients and, despite recessionary pressures, completed the project within four years of starting work. He partnered with some of the best attorneys, architects and project-management consultants to make the project successful. It sounds unbelievable, but Sudarshan ran this huge project with just seven employees—one director, one sales coordinator, two field supervisors, one liaison officer, a driver and an office boy. The company has an Alto, a bike and a thousand square feet of leased office space at Sahakar Nagar. He kept the company’s overheads to a minimum and managed a large-scale project by leveraging the inherent strengths of people. His principles continue to remain the same:

- Be absolutely polite to customers. Instead of saying ‘no’, give them options and attract attention. With great customers, the network of references improves.

- Trust your employees and partners. Be flexible with everybody. Keep overheads as low as possible.

- Strategy can take you only so far. It is the combination of strategy, execution and quality that fetches higher value.

In executing Mulberry Meadows, Kiran Kumar, director for sales and marketing, ably supported Sudarshan. Kiran is twenty-nine years old, studied engineering and got an MBA and is on the board of the company. His knack for dealing with customers, deep knowledge of commercials, eye for aesthetics and pleasing personality made him indispensible to the project.

Kiran says, ‘The project was successful because we were given the independence to execute it. In most other places, investors and partners interfere in day-to-day affairs, which causes friction. Also, most real-estate companies execute the work themselves and because of their lack of expertise, the quality of work suffers. We instead outsourced most of the construction work to contractors who specialize in building villas and engaged a project-management company to deliver the requisite quality. But the most important factor in the project’s success is Sudarshan; he demands speed of execution and keeps all of us on our toes.’

According to Sudarshan, to be successful in real-estate business, one has to follow certain fundamentals:

- Make sure that the legal aspects of the project are one hundred per cent clean.

- Make commitments to clients that you can deliver, else don’t make any.

- As far as possible, keep the project within timelines and ensure that designs are simple and common-sense driven.

- Do not divert money generated for a project to other projects. Cash flow will be affected.

- Maintain profit-and-loss statements for each project; it helps track areas of maximum expenditure.

- Engage top project managers and architects who can bring quality and visual appeal to the projects.

- If you want great clients then your project also has to be of that class and style.

- At the end of the day, the most important aspect of a real-estate business is execution.

Sudarshan inspires me. He does not have any formal education, never went to college, never ran a big business, but he managed to set up a successful company and complete projects. Execution is not everybody’s forte and can possibly be acquired with practise. During one of our interactions, Sudarshan said, ‘I come from a village where people walk barefoot and wear dhotis. People live in unpainted houses that leak. I couldn’t take it. I wanted to build beautiful houses and that is what I am doing. That is my story, sir!’

50

Successful People are Average People

At two and a half years, my son hardly talked, was very shy and wouldn’t go near anybody. Some of our friends suggested enrolling him at Head Start, a premier Montessori school in Bengaluru.

My wife and I were standing at the entrance of the school with our son clutching my little finger. Samina Mahmood came to the entrance, looked at him and gently said, ‘Come here, my child,’ and he let go of my little finger and went into her arms. That is the kind of influence Samina has on children. Samina Mahmood is the founder and principal of Head Start, with about 400 children between the ages of two and six.

It all started about two decades back. Samina’s four-year-old son was often sick and missed a lot of classes at school. At the end of the term, the principal told her that her child would have to be failed because the child had missed school and hadn’t performed adequately. Samina tried convincing the principal, but her pleas were in vain. ‘How can a four-year-old understand all this? It will de-motivate the child. One should instill confidence in children, not fail them.’

Being a trained teacher herself, she thought the schooling system was not right; people had to be soft with children. She decided to do something about it and on 4 July 1984, she started a small no-name Montessori school from her garage and enrolled three children. Within a few years the number of children rose to twenty-five, but sadly for Samina, her husband passed away and she was left with three young children, a crumbling footwear business with two hundred workmen, a belligerent union and heavy debts. Samina says, ‘A childhood memory of a wobbly doll gave me inspiration. The doll’s centre of gravity was so low that whichever way you pushed the doll it regained its original position.’ She was determined to fight and wanted to harness what her husband always dreamed of, starting a Montessori school. Since she knew very little about her husband’s business, she decided to grow the school and shut the factory. She sold off prime land in Whitefield, paid off debts and settled all the union issues. She says, ‘It took me almost a decade to wrap up all the matters related to factory but it made me stronger. I think it was the right decision, considering the circumstances I was in.’

Meanwhile, she never let her focus shift and the school kept growing. She invited Geetha Nithyananda, a Montessori-trained teacher to join her. Geetha was extremely helpful in teaching and running the day-today affairs. Between 1986 and 1991, Head Start had fifty students and had outgrown the garage it was operating from, compelling Samina to rent a house. By 1992 the number of children grew to 100 and by 1993, 150 students enrolled and she had to introduce afternoon sessions. By 1995 they had to rent a second building.

The turning point in the school’s history came in 1996 when Samina’s son Riad Mahmood joined as managing trustee. He realized that the school was growing and one couldn’t keep renting houses. A school needs to have premises of its own. So he asked the BDA to allot a civic amenity site for the school. It took some doing, but finally his persistence paid off and a civic amenity site measuring about 15,000 sq. ft was allotted to Head Start in 2002. By 2004 Head Start had moved into its own building. The following year, the school introduced Montessori education for primary classes (Class 1 to 5) and added another 150 children. Samina who already had a Montessori certification for pre-primary, enrolled for the Montessori course for primary education. She was fifty-nine years old and was the oldest student in the class. She smiles and says, ‘How could I teach Montessori methods at the primary level if I was not Montessori certified?’

Samina and her team have never advertised. ‘We get new students because parents hear good things about us from other parents whose children are already enrolled with us. Word of mouth works for us. Our teachers are our brand ambassadors. We are extremely sensitive to the needs of children. Our teacher-student ratio is 1:15 and we run our school on the quality of work rather than on numbers. Parents have come to expect nothing less than the best from us.’

With expansion into primary education, Samina and Riad realized that they needed additional land and buildings to pave the way for a full-fledged school. In 2008 with help from some investors and by mortgaging their own properties, they procured 5 acres of land on Sarjapur Road and construction on another building began. Samina says, ‘My teachers and I give life to the school. Riad and his administrative team give form to our plans. All of us here work as a team and that makes us successful.’

As the brand name grew, people approached Samina for franchising rights. However, Samina and her team refused. ‘We built our school with so much passion and conviction. We control the quality of lessons we impart. We don’t run it as a business, so how can we franchise?’

During the entire expansion Samina has not missed teaching, coaching, anchoring and being a pillar of strength for everybody. Samina says, ‘My passion is to teach, I love to be with children. Where else can I find so much happiness? Unless we are sensitive to the needs of children, how can we tap the uniqueness of the child? For me the classroom is not a group of children, but individual children making a class.’ Samina never thought that the garage would grow so big. She says, ‘Even today, I don’t know how big the school will become in the years to come. All I know is that we are on our way to educate children and we will go where destiny takes us. Many successful people are average people like me. I was not good at math and it took me a long time to learn. If you have good intentions and good people around you, then everything will fall in place.’

Samina’s paternal grandparents were Bengali and maternal grandmother was British. Her great-great-grandfather W.C. Bonnerjee was the first president of the Indian National Congress. Samina says, ‘Keshav Chandra Sen, founder of Brahmo Samaj, was the great-great-grandfather of the family. We were influenced by free thinkers and have strong roots in India. My mother was a teacher in Darjeeling and I was quite influenced by her. After I graduated with an honours degree, I got a B.Ed. and found myself interested in the Montessori system of education. We want to make Head Start a mainstream school and not an elitist school. We want children from all backgrounds to come to us. That is how we build diversity.’

It takes serious commitment and a long time to build an institution with a foundation so strong that it can withstand the test of time. Samina continues to be passionate about being sensitive to children and tries hard to bring the best out of them. At sixty-five, she still leads from the front, working twelve to fourteen hours every day.

‘When you want to build an institution, you have to be careful about every brick that you place on the wall.’

51

Dialogue for Peace

Dr Ajai Kumar Singh is the DGP and IG for Karnataka. I met him as part of NASSCOM’s industry-and police-department interaction where he discussed his strategic and systemic approach towards evolving a better police force. Dr Singh has another interesting facet to him; he is deeply interested in Hindi poetry and has written three books. He received a doctorate degree in 1997 from Bangalore University. During our conversation, he recited a very interesting poem relating to his life’s journey. The four-line Bengali poem is an excerpt from Rabindranath Tagore’s collection and is reproduced below.

Ke korbey more karjyo, kahe sandhya robi

Suniya jagat rahe niruttar chhobi

Maatir pradip kahilo hé swami

Amar jetuku saddhyo, karibo ta ami

Dr Singh explained, ‘The setting sun called out asking who will do my job and the whole world remained silent. Then an earthen lamp said, “I will do whatever I can.” ’

In the course of our conversation he also pointed out the challenges of running the state’s police force:

- Running an effective police department on a day-to-day basis needs a focused approach towards solving problems. It is his responsibility to ensure that the right decisions are taken and the rules laid down by the government are followed.

- Maintaining the law-and-order situation in the state has to be achieved through continuous dialogue with leaders from various levels of the community.

- Cyber intelligence is an emerging field and the police force has to align with the latest technologies relating to gathering and deciphering information.

- Bringing an attitudinal change in a majority of the police force. ‘Any business or enterprise will be resource-constrained,’ Dr Singh says. ‘For example, if farmers want better pricing for sugar cane they will agitate, come out into the streets and disrupt traffic. As a policeman, one can take the stance that we have no role to play in sugar prices, so why bother? Alternatively, we can decide to play a role, open dialogue with the farmers and keep the government informed. We can also tell the farmers that they can continue protesting as long as there is no violence. The question is, how well can we work within the boundaries of resource constraints and be just as effective?’

During his long tenure in the police department, Dr Singh has come across some interesting incidents. Once when he was interrogating a terrorist, a constable brought tea for Dr Singh in a nice cup and for the terrorist in a plastic cup. Dr Singh told the constable, ‘If you are giving both of us tea, then you might as well serve both of us in decent cups.’ The constable immediately brought a nice cup for the terrorist too. Meanwhile the interrogation continued and even after two and a half hours the terrorist repeated his statement. Dr Singh finally said, ‘Look, if you want to give me additional information do it now, or I am leaving. There is no point in me asking the same question and you repeating your answer.’ There was no immediate response from the terrorist and Dr Singh got up to leave. That is when the terrorist said, ‘Sir, I think you have some respect for human beings. Thank you for offering me tea in a nice cup. Now, I am obligated to tell you something more.’

Dr Singh says, ‘The information he gave didn’t lead us anywhere, but at least he volunteered. I hadn’t tricked him and I was genuine in offering him tea in a decent cup. You have to be sensitive to human needs. You never know how people react and to what they will open up.’

In another incident, Dr Singh was trying to solve the murder of the wife of an air force officer. The lady was murdered at her house in Indiranagar. There were no clues at all. The maidservant who had been working with the family for a year was on vacation. Dr Singh had a hunch; he remembered a woman he had interrogated a year ago and asked the sub-inspector to check old files and produce the photograph for identification. When the air force officer was shown the photograph he confirmed that the woman was indeed their maid. Subsequently, the police apprehended her and she confessed to her crime. She had come back to the house the day after she took leave and was let in by the officer’s wife. Another person entered the house with the maid, and together they murdered the lady and made away with her jewellery.

In another incident Dr Singh solved a case by recognizing the handwriting of the criminal. Dr Singh says, ‘I saw letters written by their cook and had a feeling that I had seen the handwriting before, so I asked for some old criminal records. The handwriting matched and we apprehended the criminal. I believe if you have to be successful in the police force, besides understanding human nature and mindsets of people, you will have to develop the instinct and ability to connect things.’

Dr Singh is from the Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh. He was born into an agricultural family and was the first in his family to join the police department. In 1979, he was assigned his first posting as DCP-crime for Bangalore City. Some of the senior officers felt that Dr Singh was too young to handle Bangalore City and the police commissioner expressed his reservations. However, once the order was released, the commissioner gave Dr Singh his full support. Dr Singh says, ‘You feel a lot of pressure when you are working with senior officers, but all of them treated me with respect and dignity. They supported me and I gained a lot of confidence. If you must, have as many debates as necessary before the posting orders are issued, but once the orders have been issued, it is important to support the individual, otherwise you will set up the individual and the department for failure, and that is not right.’

In 1981, during the peak of the farmer agitation when Dr Singh was just thirty years old, he was posted to the Shimoga district as superintendent of police. Dr Singh says, ‘When I went to Shimoga, large-scale agitation was taking place. Dr Nanjundaswamy was the general secretary of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and he was very influential. If he said, “No one will work tomorrow,” all the farmers would go home and if he declared, “Tomorrow we will stop all vehicles,” then the farmers would sit in the middle of the road. That was the kind of power he wielded. It was like a parallel government. I was posted there to ease the situation. I started by talking with the farmers and then met with Dr Nanjundaswamy. We spent a lot of time together. Weeks rolled by and eventually one day I went to him and said, “I have no choice but to arrest you.”

‘Dr Nanjundaswamy looked up smiled and said, “So be it.”

‘I told him that because of the local sentiment, I could not keep him in Shimoga and he would be imprisoned elsewhere. He understood my impartiality and agreed. We eventually had no choice but to put about 9000 farmers in different jails in the state and managed the situation. Overall, the agitation was managed peacefully and there was no violence. While in Shimoga, I also had to manage Hindu–Muslim tensions several times. I made sure that I was in constant touch with community leaders on both sides and displayed my impartial approach. If Hindus invited me as chief guest for any of their functions, I requested them to call a Muslim leader along with me on to the dais. If they didn’t call the Muslim leader, then I would politely decline to go. Similarly I implored Muslims to call a senior Hindu leader for their functions. I made sure that people exchanged views and my job was to facilitate that. The tensions reduced and I felt good. The two years in Shimoga gave me confidence, and showed me that I was ready for the long haul in the police force. Even today I have a great rapport with all the Shimoga leaders. That is the kind of relationship we built with people locally. I believe I was successful because of my team. I really felt that they supported and respected what I was doing. It was a big turning point in my career.’

Dr Singh’s grounding in management affairs began when he became DCP, traffic. Bangalore was growing rapidly and the department was short of funds. Dr Singh had to manage the SAARC summit in 1986, when the LTTE and terrorism in Punjab were at their peak. For almost a month before the summit the entire department prepared hard, not seeing their families for days together.

‘The police force is a very committed team,’ he said. ‘We don’t manage them, they self-govern. We don’t tell them to work hard; they do it as part of their duty. On an average, they work for fourteen hours a day, don’t take holidays or celebrate festivals because those are the days when security is beefed up, work for thirty-five years with an average increment of Rs 20 a year in a job that is fraught with risk. According to reports, 1000 policemen get killed every year on duty. Some police stations record up to a 1000 cases a year, more than 2.5 cases every day. The 75,000-strong state police force is extremely talented. There are singers, poets, writers among them and we encourage extracurricular activities because they take the stress out of their daily lives. We manage the force through a combination of discipline, hierarchy and dialogue. If a situation goes out of hand, we ask a lot of questions: What have we done so far? Have we missed anything? Is there something else that we can do? The facilitation process sets in motion a series of actions to resolve the situation at hand.’

Sometime in early 1999, Dr Singh became a member of the Bangalore Agenda Task force (BATF), quite by accident. The chief minister, S.M. Krishna, had called for a meeting on infrastructure development and the police commissioner Mr Madiyal asked Dr Singh to join the meeting where the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP ) was presenting on traffic management and the need for flyovers. At the end of the meeting the chief minister asked if anyone had any questions or comments. When it was Dr Singh’s turn he said, ‘Sir, the flyover is not the solution. It just shifts the problem to some other place. We will have to think holistically.’

The minister listened to him attentively and then said, ‘Dr Singh, I think you should be part of the BATF (Bangalore Action Task Force).’ Sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to. The best thing to do is to jump in at the right opportunity and make a difference. Sometimes solving a series of small problems leads to solving a bigger issue and sometimes addressing a bigger issue can solve so many smaller problems.

Apparently, until 2009 the government paid only 20–30 per cent of the total expenditure incurred towards investigations. The remaining 70–80 per cent of expenses had to be managed by the investigative teams. However, Dr Singh and his team strongly advocated against this practice; the government introduced a separate cost budget for investigations. Now the government funds 100 per cent of costs incurred towards investigations. Karnataka is the first state in the country to adopt this approach. At the All India Chief Minister’s Conference in January 2010, Dr P. Chidambaram appreciated the move to create a separate accounting head for investigations. Now, every state is implementing this method. This allows the police force to conduct thorough unhindered investigations and reduces corruption.

Dr Singh says, ‘While the fundamentals remain the same, technology is changing the way we work. Earlier, identification via fingerprinting used to take days; now we can get the results within hours. Managing information has become an important parameter to managing crime. Introducing new technologies to fight crime is a strategy we are adopting. White-collar crime is on the rise—drugs, cyber-crime, cheating, money laundering, misappropriation of funds and breach of trust are things we are encountering more and more nowadays. The moral barriers seem to have come down and that is where efforts have to be focused.’

I learnt some key lessons from my conversation with Dr Singh:

- Develop intuition and an ability to connect things; it helps solve problems.

- Engage in dialogue solves many tough situations. Using force yields only short-term results.

- Appreciate your team and back them every step of the way. That will put you on the path to success. Dr Singh said, ‘All my life, I have survived and done well because some constable somewhere is working hard to maintain peace and harmony.’

- Create a sense of impartiality and adopt an unbiased approach to solving problems, else you will become part of the problem instead of the solution.

- Don’t be afraid to take big assignments early on, it will help you grow as a professional.

- If you are in a stressful job, cultivate a strong hobby that can take your mind away from the grind.

In more than thirty-five years of Dr Singh’s career he has encountered several highs and lows. He says, ‘There is no magic formula. One has to look at life with zest and do one’s best and the results will follow.’

52

Carry People along with You

Som Mittal studied engineering at IIT, Kanpur, and then got his PGDM from IIM, Ahmedabad. He attended executive programmes at Harvard Business School and IMD, a top-notch business school on the shores of the scenic Lake Geneva, Switzerland. He started his career with Larsen & Toubro and worked with companies like Escorts, Shri Ram Fibres and Nippon Denso Ltd before stepping away from the manufacturing industry and joining Wipro InfoTech. After Wipro he joined Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) which was later acquired by Compaq who subsequently merged with HP. At HP, Som’s role included setting up global application centres and he was the president and CEO of the services business of HP for Asia-Pacific and Japan. In 2003–04, Som served as chairman of NASSCOM and was on the executive council for several years before he became president in 2008. Som is closely associated with industry organizations such as the CII and the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology. He has also been part of the Karnataka chief minister’s IT task force for many years. He is also the founding member of IIIT, Bangalore, and is on the Board of Education Standards.

During his early days at L&T, Som and his team put together an elaborate business plan and financials document for the board to review. At the meeting, Mr Larsen focused only on core business fundamentals. ‘Our competence and market forces will determine which industries we will be in. We will continue to be in construction, equipment, infrastructure and allied businesses. Let us look at the business plans for these. We can look at new ventures as we gain momentum.’ Som says, ‘The board never looked at elaborate reports and market analysis. For the board and the leadership of L&T, markets and our core competence mattered most. I realized that decisions should be based on what makes sense and what is practical to accomplish. Elaborate plans and simulations will help only to an extent.’ While at Escorts, Som immersed himself in projects. He worked on the shop-floor, learnt manufacturing, project engineering and related technologies. This gave him a peek into the mindsets of people.

Som says, ‘My nine years with Shri Ram Fibres and Nippon Denso gave me true insights into management. Working with the Japanese is amazing. They work on trust and relationships. We were responsible to deliver wiper motors to Maruti and if we hadn’t supplied on time, Maruti’s assembly line would have stopped. So, I went to Japan to meet with the Denso executives. I barged into a meeting and begged them to help get the parts before I returned to India. The executives assured me that I would get the parts before I left. Despite their assurances, I was sceptical; it is so difficult to get parts so quickly. However on the day of my departure, at about 4 a.m., just before I was leaving for the airport, I heard a knock at my hotel door. A Denso executive was standing there with a bag containing the motor parts. He had driven 300 miles overnight to make sure I got the bag. That is their level of commitment to results. For the Japanese, the end point is always fixed. They do not want to waver from their commitment. I learnt from them that if I commit to doing something, I must give it my best effort. If it doesn’t work out, people will understand, but there is no point in giving excuses and trying to outsmart them. Clients are smart enough to appreciate your efforts and see through your justifications. It is best to keep relationships simple and straightforward. The bottom line in developing trust is sincerity and hard work. I have immense respect for people who are hardworking and sincere. They are the people who you should be surrounded with.’

Som got his first break in the IT industry when he was offered a job by Wipro. He was interviewed by Ashok Soota, the CEO, and then spent a whole day with Azim Premji. Som says, ‘Leaving Shriram was tough. I had emotional bonds. However, I thought that if the chairman and CEO of Wipro spent so much time interviewing me, it must be a company worth working for, so I accepted the job offer. At Wipro I helped set up the printers business and sold printers to Wipro’s competitors too. Eventually I became chief executive for the PC-and mini-computer business and my purview included manufacturing, services, materials and sales. I was a complete outsider to the IT industry and Wipro. Credit goes to the company for assigning large responsibilities early on to a newbie like me. Some of the old timers reported to me and this was a challenge to manage. I learnt from and brought value to them. Since I came from manufacturing, I could offer some fresh perspectives. It is always easy to build your own team than inheriting a team and managing it. Whenever I inherited a new team I would start by listening to them. Half the problem gets sorted out by listening. The remaining can be solved if the team believes that you are committed to achieving excellence and have their best interests in your mind.’

In the early nineties, Indian markets started opening up and DEC started its operations in Bangalore. Som was forty-one when he joined as MD and CEO in April 1994. He says, ‘During the initial stages, DEC made some mistakes when they forayed into the Indian market. The sales engine was not working right and though DEC had a competent team, the morale was down. The challenge at hand was to turn around DEC. I noticed that the company followed a matrix structure. Nine people who were reporting to me were also reporting to nine other people in the US. So, first I spoke to the people in the US and said, “Let us collaborate and have a common set of objectives for the team. Let us not give conflicting directions.” They saw value in what I was trying to do and quickly agreed. Next, I addressed the local team, “Our financial year is July-June, and we have one final quarter left. Let us give it our best and win as many deals.” ’

The team under Som rallied, worked hard and closed a lot of deals. They were almost on target.

Som says, ‘There is nothing like winning, it returns the sense of pride. The momentum on sales picked up and within twenty-four months, the Indian entity recovered all its losses and declared its maiden dividend. There was no great out-of-the-box strategy. It was a simple straightforward case of doing what we had to do and doing it well. Often companies end up putting too much emphasis on strategy. Sometimes, it is best to keep executing well and things get fixed. Keep repeating the right process, follow the right methods and keep motivating the team and results will follow.’

On 26 January 1998, Compaq acquired DEC and Som became the country manager of the combined entity. Soon Digital Global Soft, where Compaq had 51 per cent equity, was carved out with Som as its president and CEO. Within four years, Som built a campus and grew it from 200 people to 6000 people. Som says, ‘This was possible because of the unstinting support from global influencers and my local team. My principle continues to be the same: Leadership is about walking the talk and carrying people along with you.’

In 2002 HP acquired Compaq and Digital Global Soft became HP-GDIC (Global Delivery India Centre). Incidentally, DEC was one of the first businesses to connect to the Internet when DEC.com was registered in 1985. Also, the first spam mail in computer history was sent on 3 May 1978 by a DEC employee and more than 400 people received the promotional message via ARPANET. Interestingly it was Ken Olsen, one of the founders and president of DEC, who said, ‘There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home,’ and needless to say he was proven otherwise.

In late 2007, Kiran Karnik called Som and asked him if he was interested in the role of president of NASSCOM. Som agreed to quit HP and join NASSCOM for a fraction of the salary. Som says ‘I had a feeling that my corporate role was distancing me from India and the NASSCOM role was perfect because it offered me the opportunity to work on a larger canvas.’ Som joined as president in January 2008. ‘My role with NASSCOM is strategic, more of an influencing role. We have to work with the Government of India, foreign bodies, visiting delegations and the Indian software and services sector. Fortunately, having been part of the industry for a long time, I have known a lot of people, so the network helps.’

Speaking of the lessons he has learnt during his tenure as president, Som says, ‘We have to be impartial in our approach when dealing with the government. Not only that, it is best to take a solutions-approach and not go with just the problem. I’ve realized it is best to segregate industry initiatives based on sector, size or some kind of classification and assign industry owners to take it forward. The key is to have ownership of initiatives with the industry and/or the government, as the case may be. And, in an influencing role, it is best to partner and engage with different bodies and people. Taking a tough stance or being confrontational does not lead anywhere. The interfaces are multifarious and we can accomplish the agenda only if we carry people with us.’

With Som at its helm, NASSCOM had achieved some big wins:

- Tax exemption extension for STPIs (software technology parks of India) was carried forward till 31 March 2011.

- In the budget session of 2010, the finance minister reaffirmed the importance given to special economic zones (SEZs) and proposed enhanced tax deduction on R&D investment. The government also removed the anomaly in Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act. This helps companies seek tax exemption for income earned from SEZs.

- NASSCOM advocates the principle of bringing the STPI scheme on par with SEZs for the betterment of small and medium enterprises especially in tier-two and tier-three cities.

Som was also instrumental in managing the first seventy-two hours of the Satyam debacle. Typically the premises are sealed when a corporate fraud is unearthed. If the government had sealed Satyam, it would have destroyed the investors’ confidence, global clients would have withdrawn and thousands of people would have lost jobs. Som says, ‘We obviously couldn’t let Satyam crumble. We worked with the government and made sure that the new board was constituted and Satyam survived. The credit goes to the government for listening to our requests and for helping the company stay afloat.’

NASSCOM plays a role in the global context and influences foreign delegations and governments on immigration, tax-and business-related aspects. ‘We now have a seat at the table and that helps us put our views across and influence people.’

Overall, Som summarized his insights:

- Leadership and People: Lead from the front, be sincere, develop trust, walk the talk and, importantly, carry people with you. If you are inheriting a new team, listening solves fifty per cent of the problems. The other fifty per cent gets sorted out if the team believes that you are committed to achieving excellence and have their best interests in mind. There is no substitute to sincerity and hard work. When you commit to something, deliver it, don’t give excuses. People are smart; don’t try to outsmart them. They will see through it.

- Dealing with government: Be practical and transparent. Approach with solutions and go with requirements that serve the larger interests of the industry. It is best to partner and engage people. A confrontational approach won’t solve problems. Involve industry champions where appropriate.

- Management: A senior management role is about influencing people. You can influence people if you add value, if you are able to listen and show direction. Importantly, you should not be controversial. Networks help when you want to establish an agenda and accomplish goals. Ownership drives accountability and decision-making improves.

Som says, ‘I never planned my career. I was rather fortunate. Opportunities unfolded and I kept growing with every break that I got. A career is about learning continuously and engaging with people. Unless you carry people with you, it is difficult to have a successful career.’

Theme 6: Sensitive to People and Customer-centric

In the stories in this theme, people are sensitive and extremely customer-centric in their orientation and are always looking for feedback. They demonstrate leadership with a personal touch and are willing to go out of their way to accommodate people, partners and especially clients. Their philosophy is to help people and do whatever it takes to please stakeholders. They are contextually sensitive people, honest in their dealings and interactions. They establish simple people-networks, sell with the help of references, value relationships and persistently follow up for results thus retaining and developing clientele with their courtesy, hospitality, service orientation and commitment. They are business savvy and network and co-opt partnerships for everybody’s benefit. Once a relationship has been established, they keep in touch for years. They make choices to be with their families, define work-related boundaries and give importance to work-life balance.

53

Remember My Name, ‘Srinivas’

Somehow wives can’t fathom how husbands can be comfortable living in rented houses. So in early 2003 the pressure kicked in on me to buy a decent house, preferably one in a gated community, and move out of the house we were renting. I did some quick research and zeroed in on a few projects and approached a few real-estate companies. I met heads of sales of companies like Adarsh, Purvankara and Chaitanya, and shortlisted a few options. But the negotiations for the properties always fell through when it came to the price. With the real-estate market booming and NRI dollars pouring in, the developers would not reduce the price to meet our expectations. I still remember one of the developers suggesting that we should look for a smaller apartment. He even gave me the number of his friend who showed me an obscure apartment on a no-name street. Knowing that I was miles away from owning a decent house made me feel really bad.

Even if I extrapolated my salary at 20 per cent year on year for the next ten years, it would have been almost impossible to buy a decent independent house for the price they were quoting. I didn’t have adequate savings. I had MindTree stock options but didn’t know if and when they would ever yield. Getting a raise, even a 20 per cent raise, would not have helped our cause. I considered jumping jobs, but the result would’ve been the same and I didn’t want to do that anyway. If I had stretched and bought one of those independent villas, the price escalation over the years would have made me a millionaire today. My family would have glowed with the pride associated with owning an independent villa, but for the next couple of decades my salary would have gone to a bank towards servicing the loan, and I would have lost my peace of mind.

So, I changed my strategy. I decided to buy a small plot of land, wait for a couple of years, sell it at a higher price and buy a small villa with that money. I wanted the market to fund the purchase of my house. I discussed my plan at home and it was ratified with overwhelming majority. We decided buying a BDA plot was safer; it had better appreciation and could be sold easily. However, there were other issues associated with purchasing land in the retail market. Most of my friends warned me that the transactions could be dubious, papers wouldn’t be transparent, bank loans were scarce and brokers were unreliable. Nevertheless, I wanted to pursue my plan. I started calling people from weekend classifieds in the Times of India. Almost everybody I talked to was a broker. Most brokers charge 2 per cent of the sale value for showing you the plot and introducing you to the landlord. Thereafter, you have to negotiate with the landlord, settle the price, get the papers verified by an attorney, get agreements prepared, seek bank loans and register the property. Once you finish the whole process, the broker will land up at your doorstep and demand 2 per cent of the sale value. On a typical land deal of say Rs 25 lakh, brokerage of 2 per cent is Rs 50,000. That is a lot of money for minimal value add.

Given the circumstances, I thought it was best to avoid brokers and looked for landlords with whom I could interact directly. However, finding a landlord who intends selling directly to customers is like finding a needle in a haystack; most landlords tend to deal through brokers because they promise a higher rate of return. I searched through popular Web portals and realized that most of the listings were from brokers.

So, I did a full circle and came back to dealing with the brokers. Every weekend I called and met brokers. They were all kinds. One gave me time and didn’t turn up. The other took me to the place, but could not show me the site. Another didn’t have the plot number but knew the owner. One knew the plot number but not the owner. I would have found it funny if the process hadn’t been so frustrating.

Then I met Srinivas—a twenty-something college drop-out, with a quaint smile, who could speak only Kannada.

‘Sir, I no spoke English. You spoke Kannada? I show plots and you meet owners. You settle deal, I help with price. Once all okay, I go to lawyer, registration, sub-registrar office and help you fully. I get 2 per cent.’

I just listened to him and laughed. ‘I am sorry.’

He also laughed with me and said, ‘I too sorry, sir.’

That much English was good enough for me. It didn’t matter as long as he was honest and took care of everything. When I spoke to him, I felt like trusting him.

I said to Srinivas, ‘I can pay only 1 per cent. You do this deal and I will refer many more friends.’

He thought for a while, looked at me, smiled and said, ‘I do for 1 per cent. Just remember my name, Srinivas.’

I said, ‘Yes, your name is Srinivas.’

Finally I had found an honest broker, at reduced commission and with the potential to close a deal. As promised, Srinivas showed me a dozen plots and by the twelfth one I was thoroughly confused.

‘Sir, buying plot for building house or investment? If house, take plot you like. If investment take plot others like—east facing, smaller plot, easy to sell later.’

That was a good lesson for me. I told him that I was looking to buy a plot for investment. So, he showed me an east-facing plot and said that the landlord was a good man whom he knew well.

I agreed to buy and Srinivas took me to the landlord’s home. We had a long discussion with the landlord and agreed on a price. At critical points during the discussion, Srinivas said, ‘Both of you good parties, sir, difficult to get parties like this, make the deal, sir,’ and ensured that we shook hands. Then he took a copy of all the documents, got a legal opinion from the lawyer, helped make the sale agreement, got it signed by the landlord and facilitated the process of securing a bank loan. He came to my home on the day of registration, took me to the sub-registrar’s office and got the plot registered in our name. And the deal was concluded. But he didn’t ask for his commission immediately. He said, ‘You are comfortable in next ten days, you can pay me my commission,’ which I did within the next week or so.

The whole transaction went smoothly and I had no qualms in paying Srinivas. I thought he deserved every bit of the commission for educating me and for taking care of the whole transaction from beginning to end. After that deal, I helped him with quite a few references and he became my close confidante in most real-estate transactions.

In the real-estate business, finding people like Srinivas is very difficult. People who are honest, willing to walk the extra mile and build relationships do extremely well in life. I believe, he made good money over the years and continues to run the real-estate broking business. He once said to me, ‘We succeed in real-estate business when we are honest and do full work, and the customer is happy.’

I guess he figured it out well.

54

Meeting Commitments

I wanted to buy a personal computer and a friend suggested Sunny. I decided to meet him and went to his office at 8.30 a.m. At about 8.45 a.m. a boy came on a bicycle and opened the office door and by five minutes to nine, Sunny arrived.

He looked at me and asked ‘Sir, how can I help you?’

I said, ‘I am looking for Sunny. Want to order a PC for my home.’

He said, ‘Sir, I am Sunny and I am sorry for keeping you waiting. If you had called, I would have come. You need not have bothered to come all the way, sir. Tell us the configuration and we will deliver the system to your home, sir.’

I smiled and said, ‘I wanted to meet you personally and seek your recommendations on configuration and get the price. I want to close the deal face to face.’

He quickly led me upstairs to his office. He offered me a seat and told the office boy to get me a cup of tea. Then he unlocked a few cupboards and pulled out a notepad, calculator and different-coloured pens.

Before he started his business for the day, he lit a few incense sticks and stuck them on a wooden holder that was affixed to the wall. Then he folded his hands and prayed to a photograph on the wall. The photograph was that of a long-bearded Sikh gentleman with benevolent eyes.

I looked at him and he said, ‘My guruji. I start and end my day with prayers, sir. Please give me two minutes and I will be done.’

I said, ‘Take your time, no hurry.’ I didn’t want to interrupt his daily routine.

In India, many people who run small and medium enterprises follow the work ethic of praying before they start work; they probably look for an auspicious start to their day. My first boss at Wipro, Brian Jones, was a devout Christian and before starting work would devote the first five minutes of his day to reading the Bible.

Sunny completed his prayers and sat down with the notepad in front of me. Sunny deals with branded and assembled IT products. He deals with licensed software and is a reseller for a several brands. I wanted to buy a system for my home and it didn’t matter whether it was branded or assembled. All I wanted was a reliable product that would take care of my home-computing needs at the most economical price.

Sunny started explaining different configurations, which I could buy. I was getting thoroughly confused with the range of features and configurations. Sunny quickly gauged this and got into a consulting mode.

He asked, ‘Sir, who will use this system at home?’

I said, ‘Me and my seven-year-old son.’

Then Sunny gave me the specification of the highest configuration that he supplied to home customers. He then asked the following questions in rapid fire—‘Does your kid play video games and surf the Net? Do you watch movies on your home computer? Do you download songs on your home PC and listen to music? Do you want to watch TV programmes on your PC at home? Do you use your PC for any purpose other than the MS-office suite of products? Do you use it to do any graphics work?’

He was trying to define my needs by elimination. It is a pretty neat approach for arriving at what one wanted. We can reach a decision either by elimination or by selection. In the elimination method you take the highest configuration of the machine and remove what you don’t want. However, selection is a ground-up method. You select the basic configuration and keep adding what you want. People end up spending more money if they go by the elimination method, because the tendency is to retain more features and many people can’t resist that temptation. So, retailers always tend to start with the highest configuration and scale downwards. This method stretches your budget and improves margins for them. Often profits are in the additions and not in the deletions.

I explained my needs to him and within the next fifteen minutes or so we were pretty much clear on the kind of PC I was looking for. Then it was time to discuss price, warranty, installation and service. He offered a price that was a bundle of everything. It included one year’s warranty, delivery and installation, service charges for the next one year for troubleshooting. I thought the cost of the machine was reasonable, but the warranty, delivery, installation and service charges were on the higher side, especially the service charges. Also, looking at his overall setup, I was not very sure if he had the capability to service.

So, I said, ‘Sunny let us drop the service part and I will pay for the rest.’

He asked, ‘If there is a problem, who will service it, sir?’

I said that since it was under warranty, it was his responsibility to ensure serviceability.

He smiled and said, ‘Yes, sir, that is true, but that is only if the PC needs repair and that is where the parts warranty kicks in.’

He explained to me that the warranty was only for faulty parts and did not include wear and tear. He informed me that service guaranteed upkeep of the system.

He said, ‘Service is the most important component that one should consider while making a purchase, because service ensures uptime. Assuming you don’t buy service and if there is a problem with the PC, I cannot guarantee a timeline for the system to be up and running. Field engineers may not come on time, sir. At the end of the day, it is your choice, sir. But I recommend you don’t make the mistake which most customers make.’

I asked, ‘Okay, if I pay for service, what kind of upkeep do you have?’

He said, ‘When you buy service from us, you can call me and we are available five days a week, eight hours a day, all through the year, and we can take critical calls anytime of the year. On any weekday, our person will be at your doorstep within six hours of your call sir, I guarantee you. None of the big companies offer this kind of service for our kind of price.’

I smiled and said, ‘If you give me a further discount, I will take it.’

Sunny agreed, gave me a discount and the deal was done.

As was expected with any technical equipment, a day before Diwali, we had the whole family at home and we were uploading some pictures and the PC suddenly stopped working. We tried rebooting but much to our irritation the system didn’t boot. So, I called Sunny on his cellphone. Initially, he didn’t take my call.

So, I sent him a short SMS saying, ‘System hanged, need help, please call, regards, TGC.’

Twenty minutes after I sent the SMS, Sunny called and said, ‘Sir, I am out of Bangalore and since it is Diwali, today our office is closed.’

I smiled and gently reminded him that it could be a critical call, since we had lots of people at home and wanted to use the machine.

He said, ‘Yes, sir, that is true and if you really want me to send somebody, I will ask my engineer to come to your place.’

I replied that it was not that urgent and that he could do whatever was appropriate.

Sunny said, ‘Thank you sir, Happy Diwali,’ and put the phone down.

I shook my head, smiled to myself and thought, ‘So much for critical-call service.’

Within a few minutes of our discussion, my cellphone beeped and I saw a message, ‘Engineer on the way, Happy Diwali.’

True to his SMS, the engineer turned up, diagnosed the problem and said that the input-output device was malfunctioning and said it would be replaced.

After that incident, I contacted Sunny for whatever personal software or infrastructure needs I had. If I wanted to buy an additional hard disk, I called Sunny. If I want to buy a laptop, I take his advice. Recently, I added a wireless LAN and he helped me with it. My close friend wanted to buy a high-end system for graphic designing and I recommended Sunny to him.

Sunny meets commitments to his clients and that’s what truly matters. Service is about meeting commitments. Forget delighting customers, most companies don’t even keep their commitments. One of the most important lessons I learnt in my life is to keep a service commitment. If you think you can’t keep a commitment, then it is better to let the customers know about it upfront. Customers appreciate a call ahead of time keeping them informed, not after the deadline has passed. There is no point in calling a customer after the deadline has passed. You have already lost the customer. It takes phenomenal effort to win the customer back.

55

Million-dollar Massage-Parlour Business

During my Lucent days, I travelled extensively and, at times, for weeks together. On one of those trips I stayed at an upmarket hotel in Mumbai for a couple of nights before heading back to Bengaluru. I was feeling battered and numb so I decided to get a foot massage. I called the spa and fixed an appointment. Around 6 p.m. I went to the spa and sat down in a long-armed chair. A young woman, probably in her mid- or late twenties, came a few minutes later and sat in front of me on a small stool.

‘Sir, my name is Goetra and I will help relieve the tension in your feet. Please let me know the pain points.’

I replied, ‘I don’t have specific pain points, but my feet are hurting and my calves are stressed.’

She said, ‘Okay, sir, I will fix it. Do you want a low, medium or intense massage?’

I said, ‘Let us start with medium pressure.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she said, and gently pushed a big brass bowl filled with warm water and some floating petals for me to immerse my feet in. I felt the warm water soothe my aching feet. Goetra deftly moved her fingers and started caressing my feet, rubbing the toes, pressing key pressure points at the base of my feet. It felt great. According to the spa card a sixty-minute foot-massage-therapy session cost Rs 2500. At a conversion rate of roughly forty-five rupees to a dollar, it translated to about $55 an hour, a price which some of our best offshore technical architects could not charge our American clients. As I did this quick math, I was tempted to ask Goetra what her skills and background were.

Meanwhile, she carefully removed my feet from the brass bowl, wrapped one foot in a warm towel and started applying cream to the other. As I closed my eyes and lay back to enjoy my massage, I politely asked, ‘Goetra, where are you from?’

‘Assam,’ she replied and continued to knead my feet.

‘Where were you trained?’

She said, ‘Sir, I used to give massage to my father. Things are not very good in Assam, so I came to Mumbai in search of a job. Through some contacts I got a job as a masseuse in a local massage parlour and learned how to give massages from the head masseur. I got this job through a reference after one of the massage girls in this hotel quit. Once I joined here, I was given a day of etiquette training and a day of massage training.’

I asked her, ‘What did you study? Why did you become a masseuse?’

She smiled and said, ‘Sir, I am a commerce graduate and this is the first break I got so I took it. It is tiring at times, but overall I am happy here; the ambience is good and the clients here are much better.’

I said, ‘Yes, I understand.’ I was quiet as I thought about what she had told me. She was a graduate, barely trained, charging $55 an hour. That was killer pricing for the hotel.

Meanwhile, she shifted her attention from the left foot to the right. With enhanced blood circulation, I was starting to feel comfortable. ‘So, Goetra, what do you want to do in life?’ I asked, not sure that she would want to continue working as a masseuse.

She said, ‘Sir, I want to open a top-class massage parlour.’

I said, ‘That is wonderful. What is your plan?’

‘Sir, with ten masseuses, I could make around a million dollars a year.’

I sat up. ‘Wow, is that realistic? Can you explain to me?’

She nodded. ‘Let us take the example of this hotel, sir. On an average, a masseuse works for eight hours every day and makes Rs 20,000 per day. Excluding the four Sundays in a month, a masseuse can potentially bill twenty-six working days. But that would be unrealistic because clients don’t walk in every hour and we have to account for holidays, vacations and rejuvenation time. So, taking an average utilization of 77 per cent, we arrive at twenty billable days per month. At the rate of Rs 20,000 per day per masseuse, the revenue at the end of 240 billable days is about Rs 48 lakh per year, or $1,00,000. So, with ten masseuses we get to revenues of $1 million.’

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Extrapolating linearly, 10,000 masseuses would make a billion-dollar company when Indian IT companies had close to 30,000 employees for a billion dollars of revenue. The massage business seemed way ahead of the curve. I asked, ‘Goetra, how would you go about realizing this?’

She said, ‘I would like to corporatize it. It will be a clean and hygienic place. We will have good-looking women providing first-class massage services to elite clientele. We will strictly stick to massage only, sir, because that is how reputations are built. I will rent a decent place close to where lots of companies are located, furnish it elegantly and market via social networking sites.’ She was explaining a high-end services model to me—expensive consultants, high billing and strong corporate clients who could pay.

I smiled at her and asked, ‘So what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you starting it?’

She said, ‘I have started to put a plan in place, sir. What do you think, sir? Is this workable?’

I didn’t want to disappoint her and said, ‘Yes, it is possible, but it depends on several factors, like getting the initial capital to rent a decent place, getting like-minded people to join you, etc.’

She said, ‘I have been speaking to my friends about it, sir, and all of us want to pool some money and start.’

I said, ‘That is not a bad idea.’

After that, I was lost in my own thoughts. It was heartening to see so many young people dreaming and planning their future. There is dignity of labour in whatever they were doing. Young women like Goetra wanted to grow by building a reputable massage business and were putting plans in place. I think it is a great business to start and run.

Other than Hindustan Unilever Limited, which set up the Lever Ayush Therapy chain, primarily ayurvedic centres that provide medical therapy and holistic cleansing, I don’t think any large corporate has set up professional massage outlets across the country, targeted to improve the health and overall wellbeing of corporate executives. Here is a great opportunity to pursue.

56

The Talent Network

Abhijit Chakraborty is thirty years old and gives tabla lessons to my seven-year-old. Teaching children is not easy; it takes a lot of effort and patience to motivate them to learn something new. Children of that age can easily get distracted. Abhijit has to encourage and simultaneously reprimand if the child doesn’t practise or perform well. A fine balance has to be maintained and Abhijit seemed to understand that. A typical conversation between him and my son is something like this—

Abhijit: So have you practised in the last few days?

Rishi: Yes.

Abhijit: Good. Can you play the dadra taal for me?

Rishi: Oh, it is so boring. Give me something different.

Abhijit: No, first play this five times and then I will give you something interesting.

Rishi: Hmmm … why don’t you tell me the interesting thing first and then I will play the dadra taal?

Abhijit: Do you eat ice cream before dinner or after dinner?

Rishi: After dinner. Why?

Abhijit: Exactly. Just like the way you eat ice cream after dinner, you get to know interesting stuff once you play dadra taal.

Rishi reluctantly plays, but it doesn’t sound very appealing.

Abhijit: If you play like this, nobody will listen to you. You want people to listen when you play, right?

Rishi: Okay … I will play better. (He starts playing better because children need attention.)

Their sessions are a continuous dialogue and very interesting to watch. I was impressed with the way Abhijit kept Rishi engaged in the lesson. After observing one full session, I asked Abhijit to spare some time to talk to me.

Abhijit runs a music firm called Sanchari, a socio-cultural organization. ‘A Sanchari is a person who spreads the message of music,’ he explained. He gives tabla lessons to nearly sixty-five students between the ages of four and sixty, forty-five of whom are young children. He is an excellent teacher, works all days of the week and is busiest on weekends.

Abhijit started learning the tabla when he was five and a half years old, gained proficiency by the time he was seventeen and got his bachelor’s degree in music (tabla). He was recognized among the top ten students in Assam, and eventually he got the opportunity to study at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai, under Pandit Anil Mishra. Boarding, lodging and tuition were taken care of. However, Abhijit left within six months of joining the course. ‘I left because I had to perform at sponsored events almost every evening. The programmes used to start at 8 p.m. and we would come back to our hostels by about 3 a.m. Regular classes started at 5 a.m. There was hardly any time to rest. Besides, I didn’t like the music culture in Mumbai. The musicians in Mumbai are extremely talented and I have great respect for their musical abilities but their lifestyles didn’t appeal to me. Most people were into drinking, and didn’t have any dreams to pursue. They were living from one day to the next whereas I wanted to do something on my own. I got a bachelor’s in commerce and could have joined a BPO, but that didn’t appeal to me either. Everybody makes a choice and I made mine to teach music.’

Abhijit landed in Bengaluru, fell in love with the weather and the people. He says, ‘I started getting calls to teach children. That was the best thing that happened to me. Within a short period of time, more parents started approaching me. I realized that I had a time limitation. How many could I teach by myself? Also the traffic situation in Bengaluru didn’t permit me to take assignments that involved commuting across the city.’ So Abhijit started to network and identified other teachers in different parts of Bengaluru. When a student approached, depending upon the locality, he started recommending a teacher. The network enabled him to start earning referral fee. Once a locality reaches critical mass, along with a couple of his friends and teachers, he establishes a ‘learning centre’, a place where students come to learn and physical infrastructure can be shared. Depending on the economics and convenience, it could be a school, somebody’s house or a rented place. He rents some places, sponsors some partially, and in some cases teaches the owners and in return they let him use their premises for running his classes. Six years into the business, he has a network of about thirty teachers and eight learning centres in Bengaluru. All these centres and teachers form a part of his music network.

To motivate children and students, he plans half-yearly and annual events. Every weekend, he gets hold of five to ten students in a neighbourhood and makes them practise for two hours and schedules a performance. The parents get to see their children playing and students who are new tend to learn from senior students. During the annual events, children are given prizes and certificates. References, friends, potential students and other acquaintances are invited to attend the events.

‘We have a tie up with Ravindra Bharati University,’ Abhijit said, ‘where proficient students can enrol for certification and we can help conduct exams locally within the Sanchari network. We have 2–3 per cent dropouts because of parental relocation; otherwise once a student enrols with us, he or she stays with us for the next ten to fifteen years. I continue to teach my sixty students and within the network we have another seventy or so. It is a one-way entry, once they are in the programme, we do our best to encourage them to learn and make sure they excel.’

This model doesn’t have competition. It is a network and everybody is part of it. The network builds strong relationships with students, teachers, friends, families and music-shop vendors. He says most music shops that sell musical instruments in Bengaluru know him and give his students discounts. He feels that he will not be able to work as hard as the years roll by and that is when the network will be really useful. He dreams of starting the Sanchari Music Academy. ‘Wait and see sir, Sanchari will become a household name in Bangalore.’

Abhijit is creating a big talent network, a virtual university of sorts. The typical structure of education in the country is changing. Universities are coming home either through the Web or through loose affiliations of people like Abhijit.

Abhijit has a powerful business model.

- He teaches children music at their homes, which gives him access to a captive audience for years.

- The social network of parents helps him with referrals and more children enrol.

- His affiliation to the university gives him credibility to teach and conduct exams.

- The Sanchari network helps him brand his activities and grow.

A few years ago, students had to go to music schools to learn; there was no alternative. Today, things have changed. The other day, I was surfing the Net and came across an interesting advertisement:

Interested in learning the tabla, but are based abroad? Want to learn from home? No music schools nearby? Don’t worry, we offer tabla lessons at home. Flexible timings, flexible fee structure, log in thru Skype and learn to play the tabla online!

All you need is an instrument and an Internet connection; the rest will fall in place.

57

Three Rules of Survival

I wanted to release a classified advertisement. So, I called my friend Kiran Kumar for a reference and he put me on to Nagaraj, a freelancer.

Before calling Nagaraj, I asked Kiran, ‘Do you know this guy? Good rates? Good service?’

Kiran said, ‘Meet him, you’ll know. In the classified-market space he is awesome.’

So, I called Nagaraj and said, ‘I want to release a classified advertisement in the Times of India, can you come over to discuss it?’

He said, ‘Sure, sir. What time do you want me to come?’

I said, ‘Come by 11 a.m.’

To my pleasant surprise, he arrived at my door sharp at 11 a.m. He was punctual; I liked that. He was not the most well-groomed person I had met—his clothes were crushed, his hair was flat from wearing a helmet and he carried a faded cloth bag. He was short and spoke reasonably well.

I invited him to sit down and said, ‘I want to release a classified ad, can you help me with that?’

‘Sure, sir. What is the ad about?’

‘I want to sell a site.’

‘This is a standard short version of a similar classified for the Times of India,’ he said, pulling out a flyer. ‘Would you like to take a look at it?’

I looked at it. It read: ‘30x40 BDA HSR east for sale—Rs 5000/sq. ft—Negotiable—Ravi 98450 …’ It was short and crisp. I liked it.

I said, ‘Yes, we can go with something like this.’

He said, ‘Sir, I suggest you opt for the weekend package. The ad will appear in the Saturday and Sunday editions of the newspaper and you will get a discount too. And if you choose to repeat it, you can book the space in advance and get an even better deal.’

‘Okay, let us go with the weekend package.’

‘Sir, there are too many such ads in newspapers, so quote a lower sale price and people will call you. Once they call, then you can start negotiating.’

I smiled and said, ‘I can’t do that.’

He replied, ‘Then you can give a range, sir, something like 4500–5000 per sq. ft.’

I liked the idea. I had not seen many people giving a range as an indicative price. Then I asked him, ‘What about the discount?’

He said, ‘I can give you a maximum discount of 5 per cent.’

I agreed; I didn’t want to negotiate hard with him.

He took the application form, filled it, took his payment and left. I liked his approach—he had come on time, brought a standard text, subtly pushed me to take a package to save money, helped me formulate the text and given me a discount. I couldn’t have asked for better.

He called me later in the evening and said, ‘Sir, I have booked your advertisement and it will appear in the weekend papers. I have e-mailed the final text to you. Please verify and let me know by Tuesday evening if you want to make any changes. I cannot change the text after Tuesday and it will be printed as it is.’

I said, ‘Fine, let me have a look at it and I’ll get back to you.’ I looked at the content, made modifications and sent him the final copy. He acknowledged receipt and we were done.

The ad appeared on Saturday and Sunday. I got a few calls and I got a feel of the market.

On Monday, Nagaraj called me and said ‘Sir, did you see the ads? If you missed them, I would be glad to scan and send them to you. Were you happy with the response you got? If you didn’t get a good response, then I recommend we advertise in local Kannada newspapers, sir. A lot of people read them and so you should get a better response.’

I thanked Nagaraj and informed him that I didn’t want to advertise any further.

This was unusual. His service was impeccable. His sales pitch subtle and his follow up was great. He was working at it. I hadn’t seen many people who did this, especially in the classified-advertisement segment. So, I decided to call him and talk to him.

Nagaraj is the CEO, client-servicing executive, accounts manager and anything else his company needs him to be. He has two employees—a design executive and a man Friday to run errands. His company makes a 15-per cent commission on the total advertising and print revenue it generates. His sales average Rs 3 lakh a month and he earns a monthly revenue (commission) of about Rs 45,000. His income during recession dipped to Rs 20,000 a month, but has never been zero. He works with the Times of India, Deccan Herald, Prajavani, DNA, Indian Express and Kannada Prabha. He enters into an agreement with these newspapers, collects the rate cards and pitches to the clients, especially automobile clients and real-estate developers. These newspapers cannot have a dedicated sales force for the retail ad segment, so they work through franchisees like Nagaraj.

‘Nobody from the big corporate sector will entertain me; my clients are small and I have to run after them,’ Nagaraj said, demonstrating an astute knowledge of his model. ‘I generate clients through referrals and I work all days of the week. It is tough, but it is better for me to work for myself.’

After completing a master’s degree in history, he joined a college as a lecturer. His salary was Rs 3000 a month. He says, ‘What could I ever do in life with Rs 3000 a month? So I resigned and started working for an advertising agency as a client-servicing representative for Rs 5000 every month. I worked like a dog. Every day, I started early in the morning and went home late in the night. Life was horrible. I had a tough boss who was unrelenting and would not understand my problems. Things were not going right, so within a year I joined another advertising agency for Rs 7500 a month. Here too my manager gave me a rough time. There was no motivation for me. Other than a higher salary, there was no difference in my job profile in both the companies. So, I decided to quit and set up shop on my own. I wanted to earn for myself on my own terms and I worked hard and generated about 25–30 regular clients.’

Nagaraj is a classic case of a small businessman who learned the ropes by falling hard many times. When I asked him what made him successful, he said, ‘Sir, I am not successful yet. One day maybe I will be. As of now, I am struggling every day. It is so difficult to generate business especially during the recession. I follow three rules to survive and generate business—I meet my commitments, whether of time or work; I keep selling, offering options and solutions to customers; and I follow up with clients for more work and I try getting referrals from them. So far I haven’t lost a single client, sir. We service them well and they stick with us. In our segment, it is difficult to make relationships easily. I realized that the best way to keep the customer is by providing good service and it works.’

I was truly impressed with Nagaraj’s understanding of the business and what he needed to make it successful. Offering great service is a powerful differentiator. All my life, I have stuck to service providers who have given me great service, even though some of them charged me a little more. I was assured that they would be available when I needed them. If you are a service provider, remember that getting good customers is really tough, but once you establish a contact, offer the best service possible. Otherwise you stand to lose not just the customer but the entire ecosystem that comes with that one person.

Once, I was flying back to India from Singapore and I asked the hotel to get me a taxi to go to the airport. As soon as I sat in the taxi, the driver said, ‘Good morning, sir. Going to airport?’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘Please check that you are carrying your passport, ticket, wallet, cellphone and medicines. Also, have you counted your baggage, sir?’

I was stumped. How many drivers do that? I said, ‘I checked, thank you for asking.’

On the drive to the airport he told me that his name was Tse Chang. When I got out of the taxi, I paid the fare and tipped him. He gave me his visiting card and now whenever I am in Singapore, I call him to take me around.

That is the power of service. You win customers for life.

58

Fire in the Belly

Narendra Babu works as assistant sales manager for Nandi Toyota, a car dealership company on Hosur Road, Bengaluru. As a faculty, he delivers eight days of product training every month to the sales executives and ensures that at least three people from his dealership are selected for the national-level Toyota quiz contest.

Naren always wanted to be in automobile servicing and even got a diploma in automobile engineering, but destiny led him to sales.

He says, ‘I used to work at a poultry company before I came here. But I quit the place because I didn’t get time to sleep. I worked whenever I was awake. One day, I was sitting in a poultry van and fell into deep sleep. Because the space was small, I had to fold my legs and sit. When I woke up a few hours later, my legs were numb. I tried getting down from the van, but I slipped, fell and hurt my back badly. My mother saw this and didn’t allow me to go back to work. So I looked for another job and finally came to Nandi Toyota.’

At Nandi Toyota, Naren had his ups and downs. He quit once, went to Dubai, didn’t like his new job and rejoined within a week. On his return from Dubai, he learnt that his girlfriend’s father was planning to marry her off to somebody else, so they eloped to Mysore. He was away from work for a week and nobody knew where he was. Once things settled down he came back to Nandi Toyota and explained the reason for his absence to his manager. He said, ‘I couldn’t see my girlfriend getting married to somebody else. So, we eloped. I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want anybody to know about it till things settled down. Now things are fine and I am back. You have two choices—sack me or keep me.’

His manager smiled and gave him Rs 5500. ‘Take this. It is your wedding gift. Welcome back.’

Naren says, ‘Initially I was scared to sell but with time I got over it. I realized that a sale is predominantly about how you close a deal and I keep coaching my sales team about it. I enjoy what I am doing and I don’t have any regrets.’

He is credited with selling three Toyota Prado cars, each worth approximately Rs 50 lakh, in three months in a tier-two town like Mysore, a record that hasn’t been broken by anybody at the dealership in the last six years. During the peak of Toyota Qualis sales in 2003, as a junior sales executive he sold fourteen cars every month for six months. He feels bad that he couldn’t touch the magic figure of fifteen cars per month, which his manager so badly wanted him to do.

How does Naren sell so many cars compared to others? Whether it is raining or the temperatures are soaring, he takes display banners with him, parks the model car at a designated place and stands next to it, advertising the latest models and deals. People come to enquire about the cars and he patiently explains the product features and pricing. Then he takes their names and numbers and follows up diligently. He maintains his database for six months and gives repeat calls to customers. He says, ‘I had to make incentives and I figured that displaying the cars was the best method to attract customers. So, I went and stood at filling stations for people to notice and ask questions. I stood near ATMs and distributed fliers. I worked every waking minute.’

I got to know him well because I was one of the many people whose information he took and whom he called every month. Each call was different. The first time he called, he told me about the Prius. ‘Mileage 23 kilometres per litre and the estimated price is Rs 20–25 lakh. Do you want a test drive, sir? The Altis is doing pretty well too.’ His second call was about the Fortuner: ‘Sold out for the next one year, sir. No more bookings. But we might open a few in January, would you be interested?’ The third call came with the very ‘exclusive’ offer to test drive a brand-new Innova.

Naren starts every call with an element of surprise, something interesting to grab your attention. Once you’re hooked, he spends the next five to ten minutes understanding your requirements, assessing your interest levels and then promises to revert to you soon.

You might wonder if this was common with most car salespeople. Not really. Have you ever received a call from a car salesman after six months, asking whether you have made a choice or not? Would the salesperson recognize you after six months if you went to the showroom? Possibly not. But that is what Naren does with his potential customers—keeping in touch, building relationships and being their car consultant.

Many of us do not know which car to buy; at least I don’t. I need advice and Naren is willing to give it. He will not push you to buy a Toyota car, but will logically steer you to buy one. When I talk to Naren, I feel that he is a quintessential salesperson. Of late he has moved into the sales manager’s role and spends most of his time coaching his team on product features and developing their sales skills. He says, ‘I conduct classes for my team on Sunday. I believe if they do well, my job becomes easier. I am trying to make them better than myself. If they sell more, I can get promoted.’

That was an interesting take on the situation: If his team does well, he gets promoted. Not many think along those lines. Sometimes I wonder how people with no formal training in business pick up these important principles of growth. Perhaps it is a natural outcome for those who come up the hard way.

According to Naren, successful businesses need salespeople with certain key characteristics:

- Attitude—They should have a fire in their belly. To accomplish a successful sale, communication and relationship skills are most important; education and marks are secondary.

- Desire—Their prime desire should be to make money. Companies should definitely hire the salesperson who negotiates commissions.

- Energy—A salesperson should have high levels of energy, and be curious and ask a lot of questions.

- Passion—Look for people who are passionate about cars. They should be fascinated with the product, model and features and should feel great selling cars.

Most salespeople may not be great team workers, especially if they are hunters—that is fine. Don’t bother too much about it. If you don’t hear the word ‘no’ during an interview, hire the person immediately.

‘Great salespeople do not like to waste time,’ Naren adds. ‘They are constantly on the move to create a new set of customers.’

Naren then discussed some innovative ways of selling cars:

- A golden rule, which no person should forget in retail sales—call existing customers for referrals, they are the best source. Almost every existing customer will think of a name and give a reference.

- Keep a database of customers whom you sold to and once every couple of years approach them to upgrade their car to a new model. Ask them to return the old car and get a new one.

- If the customer agrees for a test ride, then your chance of a sale improves significantly. Persuade the family to join the test drive, and then influence the spouse.

- Don’t try too hard and don’t push the customer. Focus on what the customer is looking for and strengthen your logic around those points.

- Love the car you are selling. You will automatically sell more. Your passion will be discernable.

- Stand at filling stations and hand over pamphlets; people are anyway waiting to fill petrol, it is a great time to entice them.

- Most customers take loans to buy cars. Provide easy payment options with every offer. Your sale becomes easy.

- Check out which car the customer is presently driving. Understand the problems being faced and showcase them as strengths in the car that you are selling.

Everything in the end boils down to having a fire in the belly, the drive to sell, win and achieve. You’ll never come across a successful salesperson who is not driven!

59

Word of Mouth

I waited at Dr Lajja Vaidya’s clinic for two hours before I could see her. By the time I met her I was incredibly frustrated and just wanted to get the homeopathic medicine and leave. I entered the room and Dr Lajja looked up at me and said unapologetically, ‘I know you have been waiting for a long time. I need a lot of information about a patient before I can prescribe medicine and it takes time to collect the right information. Patients who come to me are not in an emergency anyway. I am a homeopathic doctor and my treatments take longer. I address issues relating to immunity and I mend the lifestyles of people. So please bear with me.’

Dr Lajja rents a small room in the basement of a commercial complex. The place is functional, clean and reasonably noise-proof. The 150-sq. ft room has a small enclosure for the doctor and a small open space where the patients wait their turn. However, the numbers of patients who come to see her far exceed the space she has and people spill over on to the road outside, waiting on the steps of the adjacent stores for their chance to see her. She works six days a week for a few hours every afternoon and evening. Sunday is her holiday.

I looked at the young woman—she seemed to be in her early thirties—seated before me, and said, ‘I am allergic to pollen and it gets really bad from June to August every year. I don’t have any other ailments.’

She smiled and said, ‘I haven’t seen you before. First-time patient?’

I said, ‘Yes, I am.’

She then pulled out a ‘new-patient registration card’ and looked at me. ‘It is going to take a little time to fill this up. I hope that’s all right.’

‘Yes, I have already waited two hours for my turn, I might as well make the most of it,’ I replied in an irritated voice.

She smiled and said, ‘Yes, let us start. So, where were you born?’

I said, ‘Wow, I didn’t think you would start from there.’

Then she asked me about my lifestyle—Alcohol? Non-vegetarian food? Did I sleep late? Did I like working late at night or early in the morning? Cold weather or hot weather? When did I get stressed? How many hours a day did I work? Any surgeries? What kind of dreams did I have? Did I get along with my wife? Who caused the maximum stress and why? Children? How many? What did they do? Hot or cold food? Tea or coffee? Last time I took a vacation? Favourite food? Favourite snack? Favourite season? Did I exercise, play any sports? Which ones? Did I drink enough water? What was my last ailment? Did I bark? What did I do when I got angry? Was I a sarcastic person? A diabetic? Hypertensive? Did my parents suffer from any lifestyle diseases? The questions just kept coming.

Sometime during the session, I began wondering whether she was a shrink or a homeopathic doctor. It took a full hour to complete the new-patient registration card. Unlike most doctors, she took copious notes and filled the card neatly and legibly. I liked her methodical approach. Subsequently, she got the data transferred to her electronic database.

I asked her, ‘Why do you need so much information?’

She said, ‘It is easy for me to give you medicines which will help reduce your allergies for the next one week. What happens after that? You will come back again. Often people just treat the symptoms. I want to treat the root causes so that you don’t come back. People get allergies not because of pollen, but because their immune system is not strong enough to withstand the pollen. I want to address the issue with your immunity, so that you will never have allergies again. You know what I mean?’

I nodded.

She finished taking notes, put away my registration card, gave me a patient-identification number, mixed some medicines, labelled the small plastic bottles, gave me instructions on how to use them and asked for Rs 250.

As I was paying her, I asked, ‘Does that include the cost of medicines?’

‘Yes.’

I said, ‘That is not so expensive.’

She smiled and replied, ‘No, it isn’t.’

I paid, thanked her and left.

On my way back, I remembered that a few years ago, a branded homeopathy clinic was charging more than Rs 10,000 for reversing baldness. I grinned to myself. There is nothing as reversal of baldness. Once gone, always gone!

A few weeks later, I ran out of medicines and went back to Dr Lajja. This time, I took an appointment and didn’t have to wait long to see her. She asked me how I was doing and we got talking. I noticed that the stack of registration cards on her table had doubled and was almost two feet high. She probably had a thousand new registrations. I heard that she had set up the clinic just a few months back. Other than a small board in front of her clinic, there were no advertisements, not even a flyer in the neighbourhood. And still her business was flourishing.

Later that week, I asked a friend if she knew Dr Lajja. She said, ‘Yes.’

I asked, ‘How is she?’

My friend replied, ‘Great. She spent an hour with me, understood my lifestyle and prescribed medicines. I am doing fine now. Also, her location is very convenient; it is just round the block.’

On my next visit, I got chatting with one of her patients in the waiting hall outside and he informed me that he had been referred to Dr Lajja by a friend who said that she was a great doctor who addressed root issues and that she was inexpensive compared to most homeo clinics.

Obviously, Dr Lajja was doing well. The word of mouth was working.

Anybody I talked to mentioned three things—she addressed root causes, she was inexpensive and she was available around the corner.

That is what I call the power of referral branding. Her message spread through word of mouth.

She keeps her overheads at zero, there is no helper, no assistant and no bellboy. She buys her medicines, she opens her shop, she manages her files, she makes her notes, she packs the medicines and she makes sure you are doing well, and patients keep queuing up at her clinic.

I believe the location she chose is also fantastic. It is in the middle of about ten big apartment complexes. Children are a majority of her patients because most parents feel uncomfortable giving antibiotics to their children and she comes across as a panacea for ailments which do not require immediate attention. Addressing recurring colds, allergies, skin diseases, digestive discomforts, eyesight problems, arthritis and many such lifestyle-related ailments is her forte.

Fundamentals of successful neighbourhood businesses:

- It should be at an accessible location.

- It should have a strong value proposition.

- Keep the costs and overheads as low as possible.

- Develop a strong ‘word-of-mouth brand’.

- Have something to do with children; that attracts families.

- Keep your business proposition simple.

- Have a sincere approach and ensure time commitments are met.

- Cultivate a systematic approach to solving problems or providing services.

- Keep logistics simple, especially with customers.

- Keep a good smile and things will fall in place.

Word of mouth is a powerful method to spread a message around at the least cost and references always work wonders. How many times have you got the name of a doctor or a professional from a Google search and blindly called on him or her to get a service? The probability is almost zero. But we ask friends who their pediatrician is, where to buy a cellphone, who the best carpenter in town is, where to get the most economical curtains and which a great Punjabi restaurant to visit is!

60

Contextual Sensitivity

Recently, I had my ankle operated upon at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru. The hospital has two entrances: ambulances come to the casualty entrance and regular patients use the main entrance, passing through motion-sensitive sliding glass-doors. Wheelchairs are neatly arranged adjacent to these doors and a service boy is usually available at the entrance to help patients. The entry foyer is clean; the duty staff wear uniforms and are well groomed. The reception counter is to the left and the admissions and billing counters are straight ahead. There are strategically placed signboards that give clear directions. The orthopaedics department is closest to the entrance, to enable immobile patients to reach their destination quickly.

I filled the admission forms at the admission counter which took me about five minutes and then I was escorted to my room on the sixth floor. A few short steps from the room was the central console where most of the duty doctors and nurses were seated. It was like an activity hub. The console is fitted with beepers, colour monitors and charts that indicate patient status. Patients squeeze a soft-pad switch and a nurse appears in less than thirty seconds. Processes for patient-care are very time-dependent. A few seconds’ delay can cost lives. The thought process that had gone into designing the hospital impressed me. It reassured me that I was in good hands.

I had confidence in my doctor. It was a short surgery and with painkillers being administered at regular intervals, I was told that I would feel perfectly normal. I am one of those nerdy patients who read up every possible article on the Net relating to my ailment. Even in my dreams, I could comfortably explain my ailment in the most detailed, technical manner. But the moment I stepped into the hospital, I was overcome with anxiety. A hospital is a place where the locus of control shifts from the internal to the external. There is a reason for that. Most patients have very little understanding of their ailment, the diagnosis, cure and the impact. They feel that they are at the mercy of the doctors, nurses and the hospital and, to an extent, even the insurance company which pays the bills. This uncertainty creates great discomfort to reduce which patients expect information about the tests being conducted and views of doctors and nurses. This helps them prepare mentally. However, most typical hospitals have not evolved as much in managing patient-anxiety. The patient-care staff is taught ‘what to do and how’, but the importance of a social context and sensitivity that comes along with it is often undermined.

I was unpacking my things when a nurse walked into my room and said, ‘Good morning, sir. Welcome to Fortis. I am sure you will get well soon and walk out of this place smiling.’

I thought that was a nice start. ‘Thank you.’

‘I am your nurse and will be responsible for taking care of you during your stay here.’

‘Great. What is your name?’

‘Jinsy Mathew,’ she replied. ‘Don’t worry, most patients are a little apprehensive when they come here, but they go back completely healed. Sometimes people get scared when we perform blood tests, check blood pressure, and order ECGs, etc., but these are routine procedures, sir. They give an understanding of how the patient is doing before the operation.’

I liked her. She came across as a jovial person. I said, ‘Yes, I understand. Please go ahead and do the needful. By the way, where are you from?’

Jinsy replied that she was from somewhere near Palghat. Then she asked me to step on the weighing scale. I hated this part. The weighing scale always told you what you didn’t want to hear. She smiled and said, ‘For your height, your weight is okay.’ I was relieved. She then started measuring my blood pressure. ‘It’s 130 over 90. Usually it is 120 over 80. But don’t worry, before any surgery, patients are slightly anxious and so readings are slightly high.’ That was assuring. I was in the hands of a nurse who could interpret readings not in their absolute terms, but within a context. Then she asked me to take off my shirt, attached the ECG wires to my chest and, with a smile on her face, started noting the readings.

‘Jinsy, why are you smiling?’

‘It makes patients comfortable and doesn’t alarm them.’

‘Why should patients be alarmed when you take readings?’ I wanted to know.

She replied, ‘Sir, for many patients coming to the hospital itself is a nightmare. It is the fear of the unknown. So, they get scared by whatever we do. For example, there was this patient who used to get scared even when I asked how he was doing. He would exclaim, “Why? Did you expect anything different?” So, I changed my approach and from the next time onwards I would ask him about his day, and whether he had had breakfast. It worked; he was much calmer. So, you see, sir, I change my conversations based on the patient and the situation. You are okay, sir, so I was just smiling as I took your readings.’

Sometime in the afternoon, I was about to be wheeled into the operation theatre and I said, ‘Jinsy, let us go only if you are taking me directly into the operation theatre. If you are making me wait in the pre-operation room, then I might as well wait in my room.’

The pre-operation room doubles up as the post-operation room, where you see unconscious patients on ventilators, and people being wheeled in and out of the operating theatre. I once had to spend an entire hour in the pre-operation room, and with every passing minute I could feel my heart sink and despair overwhelm me.

Jinsy said, ‘Sir, don’t worry. I will be with you till you are wheeled into the operation theatre.’ That reassured me and I agreed to go. Jinsy accompanied me to the pre-operation room, attending to me all the while. She asked if I needed an extra pillow or an extra blanket, because the place was freezing and I was wearing little under the covers. She made some calls, moved my trolley and got me into the operating theatre where I was immediately anaesthetized.

I was wheeled back into my room after the surgery. My leg, swollen like a watermelon, was in a cast and I couldn’t move. I felt groggy, helpless and badly wanted a painkiller. I opened my eyes and pressed the soft-pad switch.

Jinsy entered the room within seconds. ‘Sir, the doctor told me that you are doing well and the operation went well.’

I just pointed my finger towards my ankle and mumbled, ‘Pain, a lot of pain, help.’

She understood and within minutes she got an ice pack and put it on my leg, but the pain didn’t subside. I asked her to give me a painkiller. She had to ask the duty doctor before administering any injections. The duty doctor was on his rounds and it would take at least an hour for him to be back. Apparently, she tried reaching the duty doctor, but couldn’t, so she called the consulting doctor who performed the surgery and sought the required permission to give the painkiller injection. Usually nurses don’t call surgeons in such instances, and rely on the guidance of duty doctors. But Jinsy didn’t want to wait. She understood that I was in pain and did whatever it took to alleviate the pain.

There are no written manuals on how to manage different kinds of situations. Every behaviour cannot be explained. It comes with experience, wisdom and sensitivity. It comes with an innate desire to help people and perhaps this is what constitutes contextual sensitivity. Contextual sensitivity cannot be commoditized. It comes with a combination of common sense and the sensitive nature of the person. Jinsy probably nurses innumerable patients every day, but she hasn’t lost her sensitivity. On the contrary she has developed deep contextual insight.

Life gives us opportunities to reach out to people, but often we miss out on them because we are too caught up with ourselves or with what we are doing. Unless we take a proactive step, it will be impossible to touch people and their hearts.

61

For Baby, Milk is Free

Here is a quick conversation I had with a Café Coffee Day service person at the counter at the departure lounge of the old HAL airport in Bangalore. His name, I think, was Ajay.

TGC: Hi, can you give me a glass of milk, please?

Ajay: I am sorry, sir, we don’t sell only milk.

TGC: Could you, please? Just one glass; I will pay for it.

Ajay: Sorry sir, we don’t have milk on our menu card and I don’t even know the price.

TGC: All right, charge the price of a cappuccino. What do you say?

Ajay: I don’t think I could do that, sir.

TGC: Come on, I am sure you can do that.

Ajay: Not really sir. We have to follow processes.

TGC (feeling a little dejected and about to move from the queue): Hmmm … I just wanted a glass of milk for my baby.

Ajay: Sir, you can have the glass of milk, no problem.

TGC: But, I thought you said that you can’t.

Ajay: Not when it comes to serving a baby, sir.

TGC: But you have a process and have to account for the glasses, right?

Ajay: It doesn’t matter, sir.

TGC: Okay, thanks. Appreciate the gesture.

Ajay: How would you like the glass of milk, sir? I presume warm.

TGC: Yes, that’s right.

Ajay: Here it is, sir.

TGC: How much?

Ajay: No, you don’t have to pay, sir.

TGC: No, no. You must charge me.

Ajay: No sir, when it comes to serving babies, we do whatever it takes and we don’t charge anything. I am sure our company doesn’t mind, sir, I just have to enter that in the records and it will be taken care of.

That was a truly amazing conversation. With people like that, no wonder that Café Coffee Day has become India’s largest and premier retail chain of cafés with about 950 cafés, 1000 kiosks and 14,000 vending machines in about 141 cities.

Look for contextually smart service people to serve your customers; your customers will truly enjoy the experience and will never forget it.

62

Fireworks in the Office

This incident happened during my sales days at Wipro in 1995. Rajeev Shroff was heading the information systems department and Ranjan Chak was heading the Oracle India Development Center (IDC).

Rajeev called me one day and placed an order for a high-end server. He wanted to include a multimedia graphics card and asked me the cost for the card. I asked him if he wanted a local make or a branded one.

He just stared at me and said, ‘You are servicing Oracle and Oracle always buys standard equipment. So, send me the quote appropriately.’

I said, ‘Okay. Sorry. Got it.’ and left.

Instead of going to the sales office, I decided to go to the material bay to meet Raghupathy, general manager, materials, and ask him to suggest a suitable card. Raghupathy looked at a long list of material brochures and suggested a high-end card from Innovative and I sent a quotation to Rajeev for around $400. I don’t remember the exact figure now.

Rajeev looked at the quotation and said, ‘Prasad, this looks high. But I will go ahead. But please make sure it is the best card that you are getting. This is for a new lab that we are setting up. Make sure it is available on the day of the inauguration.’

I said, ‘Rajeev, don’t worry, it is really the best one and we will get it to you on time.’

After a few weeks the server was delivered. Rajeev called and asked, ‘Server is in, where is the card? I have to test it before deployment.’

I said, ‘The card is on its way, I will let you know as soon as it lands.’

‘Prasad, the inauguration is next week,’ he reminded me, ‘and I don’t want to screw up. Make sure you get it on time.’

I said, ‘Don’t worry Rajeev. I will get it for you.’ I was confident because the materials department had assured me that they would be delivering the card in a day or two. Nevertheless, I called the materials department again; they said the card was on its way.

A couple of days passed and I got a call from Mohan in the materials department. ‘The card which was meant for us has been shipped to somebody else by mistake. I am ordering a card from Taiwan and it will arrive next week, on Monday. In any case this card is much cheaper and works just as well and we can pass the discount to the customer.’

I said, ‘Mohan, I am looking at quality and on-time delivery. Not for a discount.’

He didn’t say anything, I hung up the phone and went to meet Mohan and gave him a piece of my mind. We called the Taiwanese vendor who said something in broken English. The only words we heard were ‘Bangalore’ and ‘Monday’. I disconnected the call, curbing my desire to choke Mohan.

Then I called Rajeev and said I wanted to meet him.

He said, ‘Anything urgent?’

I said, ‘Nothing urgent. I just wanted to discuss the card thing.’

He instantly knew that something was amiss, so he said, ‘Come over right now.’

I went to the Oracle office and gave him an honest explanation of the situation. ‘We will only charge you the cost of the second card plus incidentals, and nothing more.’ He reluctantly agreed and asked me about the delivery.

‘Monday,’ I replied.

‘But Monday afternoon is the inauguration.’

‘I will pick it up in the morning from customs and bring it over before the ceremony.’

Rajeev was obviously angry, but didn’t have a choice. He said, ‘Make sure you are at least on time.’

I said, ‘I will do my best, Rajeev,’ and left the place.

On Monday morning, I went to materials and waited for the courier to arrive. The courier came by midday. I filled up all the forms and rushed to Oracle.

I reached Oracle IDC at 2.50 p.m. The engineer quickly unscrewed the panel and inserted the graphic card. It was 3 p.m. by then and most of the lab members, about ten of them, had assembled for the opening ceremony in the large conference room. There was a short speech and the server was switched on. Everybody clapped and waited for the screen to come up.

Then somebody remarked, ‘Is something burning here? I can smell plastic.’

The hardware engineer noticed a thin plume of smoke behind the server and promptly switched it off. Rajeev glared at me; I didn’t know what to do or say. At that moment, I regretted everything, including my not-so-relevant and seemingly meaningless existence. I hadn’t had lunch and was feeling weak. I looked at Rajeev, hoping he would understand how truly sorry I was.

He then looked at everybody, laughed and said, ‘Gentlemen, every opening ceremony needs fireworks and we had one today. Give us a minute, we will disengage the graphic card which seems to be the problem and then we can start the server.’ Everybody laughed. The hardware engineer quickly removed the card and switched on the server and it worked fine. The damn card was burnt.

Rajeev looked at me and understood that I was devastated. He said, ‘Don’t worry TGC, not your fault. You tried your best, it didn’t work out.’

I was relieved to hear those words, because it was an unfortunate incident. I took the card back to Mohan who promised to get a new one quickly. After that I talked to Raghupathy and literally shouted at him. I didn’t care for rank or hierarchy. I felt miserable for letting my customer down. Raghupathy understood my perspective, patiently listened to me, apologized and calmed me down. He promised to give a new card, free of cost to the customer.

Rajeev subsequently called me for a one-on-one discussion and said, ‘Prasad, I understand it was tough for you as well. Next time we should test the card properly before installing it. We shouldn’t rush into things especially when logistics go wrong in the last minute. You must find out the root causes of this and ensure it doesn’t happen again.’

I agreed with him.

Rajeev managed the situation with his wit and didn’t let me down in front of others, though I was the vendor who didn’t deliver the right goods on time. He displayed amazing sensitivity and won me over. From that day onwards he was one of my preferred customers and I went out of my way to service him.

There are people and companies who think vendors deserve the worst, especially when vendors don’t get things right. I think all of us have to recognize that there will always be genuine incidents where we have to accommodate people. They will respect you for that.

63

Indian Flag in Epson Garden

Sometime in late 2002, I was invited to Epson, Japan, to talk about setting up functions in start-up companies in the information technology industry, with emphasis on HR function. Epson’s main operations are located at Matsumoto and I had to deliver the talk to Epson’s global strategy, HR and operations executives.

Shomendu Mukhopadhyay was running MindTree’s Japan operations and he came with me. We took a super-fast train from Tokyo and reached Matsumoto by midday. A stretch limo was sent to the station to receive us and we were put up in a nice hotel near the Epson operations centre. There was a note at the hotel’s reception desk which said, ‘Dear Prasad san, we pick you up at 1.30 p.m. Regards, Okahara.’

Okahara san was one of the key sponsors of the programme and worked in the learning department at Epson corporate. He arrived at the hotel on time, we exchanged greetings and then he drove us down to the Matsumoto office. The car dropped us at the entrance. In front of the entrance was a beautiful Japanese garden. I asked Okahara san if we could step into the garden for a few minutes before entering the building and he obliged.

The garden was beautiful and in the middle of the garden there were two flags—the Japanese and the Indian. I looked at Okahara san and he said, ‘You are coming, so we have hoisted the Indian flag in your honour.’

I didn’t know how to react. I had just come to deliver a simple management lecture. I had not done anything in my life for Epson Corporation to hoist the Indian flag in my honour. There were scores of Indians who had done much better in life than I had. I was truly overwhelmed. We were the only three people who were standing in the garden. I kept looking at the flag for some time as it flew high. I said to myself ‘India’, smiled and asked Okahara san to show me the way.

We were taken to an executive canteen where I had lunch with some senior executives and then we were led into a large conference hall. There was silence in the room. As soon as we entered, fifty Japanese executives stood up and bowed without making a sound.

Okahara san introduced us and I began my talk. I spoke slowly in English, introducing concepts like functional redundancy, contractual employment, talent infusion, building maturity and process dumping. The executives listened intently and at the end of the session asked a few questions. The lecture went off well and after that we were taken to the briefing room where Japanese tea was served.

Then Okahara san said, ‘We have a programme planned for you and would like to show you Matsumoto Castle.’ Matsumoto Castle is one of Japan’s finest historic castles located in Matsumoto City, in Nagano Prefecture. It is a sixteenth-century castle and post-refurbishment, it has retained its original wooden interiors and external stone work. It is listed as a national treasure of Japan. Shom excused himself and I went to see the castle with Okhara san. He spent an hour explaining the history and patiently showed me around the castle. It gave me a glimpse of Japanese culture and I was very happy to be able to see it.

Afterwards, he dropped me back at the hotel around 6.30 p.m. and said he would pick us up for dinner at 8 p.m. Before leaving he asked me, ‘Do you eat only vegetarian food?’

I replied, ‘Yes, and a light dinner is okay with me.’ He smiled and left.

Okahara san took us to a traditional Japanese restaurant for dinner. He had also invited two senior Japanese executives from Epson. In a traditional Japanese restaurant one has to sit on a soft floor mat and a small wooden table is placed in the front. Salads, spices, pickles are kept on the centre table. Initially a variety of soups are served and then the main course follows. All the dishes are served in small cups and trays. In a three-hour dinner session one would typically be served fifteen to twenty non-vegetarian dishes. Although serving so many vegetarian dishes, especially in Japan, is a challenge, I noticed that the hostess kept pace and ensured that as many vegetarian dishes were served.

After we finished dinner, Okahara san dropped us back to the hotel. ‘Goodbye Prasad san. Thank you very much for sparing the time. We at Epson really thank you. We will be happy to have you again.’

I appreciated him for giving me an opportunity to speak at Epson. I thanked him for hoisting the Indian flag, for taking me to Matsumoto Castle and for an excellent evening.

Before parting, I asked, ‘Okahara san, how did you manage to get so many Indian dishes in a traditional Japanese restaurant?’

He replied, ‘You are our corporate guest. I downloaded simple Indian vegetarian recipes from the Internet and instructed the restaurant chef to help with the vegetarian menu and she obliged.’

‘Okahara san, you didn’t have to do that. Anyway, I really thank you for this gesture. I will never forget you in my life.’

He smilingly replied, ‘No problem, Prasad san. It doesn’t matter if you remember me or not. But please do not forget Epson Corporation and our products. We would be happy with just that.’

I was deeply touched. How many people go to this extent to extend such hospitality? How many people represent their companies so genuinely? It needs a different kind of thinking. My respect for Okahara san and Epson Corporation went up significantly. The whole trip left an indelible impression on me.

64

Leadership with a Personal Touch

D. Ashok (Dash) worked as the senior partner at Coopers & Lybrand and set up the IT consulting and ERP division. He pioneered the first set of SAP implementations and consulting assignments in India. Between 1997 and 1999, Coopers executed several big SAP implementations and at the time of their merger with PWC, in 1999, Dash built a team of about 100 SAP professionals. Subsequently, IBM acquired PWC. Of these 100 SAP- and IT-consulting professionals, about thirty or so relocated abroad. The remaining seventy people continued to work with IBM and other such reputed companies in Bangalore. Throughout the last ten years, Dash has kept in touch with most of the ex-Coopers people either by e-mail or through phone calls. Ten years after the merger, in 2009, Dash called for a Coopers alumni dinner and there was 100 per cent attendance.

How?

When a decade passes by, people tend to get busy in their own lives, and affiliations reduce. People remember the good old days, but do not actually attend alumni dinners. But when Dash calls for an alumni get-together, people turn up. His get-togethers are simple gatherings. They start with lots of jokes; a sumptuous lunch is served and the party ends with people singing along with the orchestra. They are usually six- to eight-hour affairs. Families are invited too. Everybody pays for his or her meal. The kids enjoy playing games, spouses connect with each other and people share old stories. Dash is the central contact for keeping this group together. An e-mail group has also been created and people exchange mails, pictures and keep in touch.

Dash has the unique ability to connect with people. In the last fourteen years of my interaction with him, I have probably seen him being serious only once, when I was leaving Coopers to join MindTree.

He was emotional and his first reaction was, ‘I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want to talk to you.’ For a few days, I found it difficult to approach, meet or even come anywhere remotely close to Dash’s cabin.

After a week or so he called me and said, ‘I would like you to stay but if you have decided to leave, then all I can do is wish you the best.’

I said, ‘Dash, I think it is a good opportunity and I would like to leave with your blessings.’

He thought for a while and said, ‘Go. Do well. Don’t lose touch and if things don’t work out, come back. Don’t hesitate to reach out.’

Before leaving I presented Dash with a copy of Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. It is about Southwest Airlines’ amazing turnaround and it talked about ‘hiring for attitude and training for skill’.

He laughed and said, ‘You are nuts!’

His parting gift to me was a plate of hot samosas. ‘You will miss these, have as many as you can.’

He was right; I did miss them.

Dash usually begins and ends a conversation with a joke, making you feel completely at ease. He will not push you to a corner, but elicit the best out of you. He can read your mind in a jiffy and knows which way the conversation is heading. Dash has some other great qualities. He speaks impeccable English and is an avid cricketer. I still remember, in the first Coopers cricket match played in 1996, Dash, then in his mid-forties, scored fifty-three runs and his running between the wickets was better than that of some of us who were in our late twenties.

Once I was having a discussion with him on how to keep employees together and we were devising all kinds of interventions. Dash said, ‘Keep it simple and straight buddy. We are a small team—personalize it. We should know each one by name; we should know their likes, dislikes and aspirations. That is the best way to keep people and stay in their hearts.’

I spent a good month or so with the team members to write down what each person wanted to do and presented the report to Dash. I called it the ‘Aspiration Report’ and it was used for career mapping and project deployment. Things are quite informal with Dash. He knows when to pick which talent for what job. When he started the Coopers IT practice, he picked a fantastic team of intellectuals. Almost every one of them pursued a strong hobby outside of work. Susheela Venkataraman who currently works as director, Internet business solutions group at CISCO, worked as associate partner and was into Carnatic music. Ramesh Srinivasan, currently partner with KPMG, was an avid reader. Alaganandan Balaramana, another remarkable person, amazingly methodical in his approach, worked as associate partner and helped craft Cooper’s IT strategy during early days. He now works as VP, Process Architecture at Britannia. All these individuals were handpicked by Dash and were part of the initial core-strategy team. They helped create Cooper’s IT consulting programme in India. They were simple people with impeccable credentials and were single-mindedly focused on creating value for their clients. These people served as role models for rest of us to look up to. In the initial stages of the formation of a company, the most important thing is to get the right kind of people. They define the performance culture of the company.

Many leaders create teams, but these don’t last beyond the organization’s boundaries. Very few can create a network of people, which transcends organizational boundaries. Dash does this effortlessly; with his ability to network and maintain relationships, he can weave a web where everybody neatly fits in. He can call hundreds of people any day of the week and they will take the call to talk to him and help him in any way they can should he ask for it.

I met him recently at the Karnataka Golf Club and he said, ‘Hey TGC, we started Gossamer Consultants, a strategic management consulting firm. Let us do some work together.’ Needless to say, the name aptly suggests his strengths—network and connect.

I am sure we will work together on some assignment and share wonderful moments again. If there is one thing that you can learn from Dash, it is ‘leadership with a personal touch’. There are great leaders, but very few can create a place in your heart and keep in touch for the rest of your life.

Dash follows simple leadership principles:

- He addresses everybody by their first name.

- He is easy to get along with.

- He has an uncanny ability to read your mind.

- He is extremely customer-centric in his approach.

- His communication skills are world-class.

- He is very good at relating with people.

- He has an amazing sense of humour.

- He keeps in touch with you even if you have left the company.

- He is sensitive to your aspirations.

- If he commits to you, he will deliver.

- He never attends a client meeting without understanding the client’s business.

- He loves golf!

Somebody once told me, ‘Business gets discussed at golf and golf gets discussed at business.’ It’s a great game to learn if you’re in business. Or even if you’re not!

65

Making a Choice

Try calling Karunya G., after 3 p.m. on a working day. She may not take your call because her eight-year-old daughter comes back from school at 3 p.m. and Karunya switches off from work to spend time with her. She helps her daughter with homework, and then they play together and end the day watching Cartoon Network.

Karunya started her Chartered Accounting (CA) practice from an independent house in HSR Layout, Bangalore, four years ago. She currently has about thirty clients, most of them from the IT industry. She manages a team of about thirty people, most of whom are women.

She says, ‘My objective is to lead a good life. I want to spend time with my husband and my daughter. I started my CA practice so I would have flexible timings. When I started, I would only hire women, but eventually I realized it was parochial to think like that and now I have begun employing men, too.’ Her clients are extremely happy with her and don’t want to leave her and she has been steadily adding five clients every year since she set up her practice. She says, ‘I can’t obviously deliver all services by myself. So, I have a network of other chartered accountants and we all leverage our services to meet client requirements and it is working well.’ Her office timings are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with flexible timings for her staff and on most days the office is closed by 6 p.m.

If there is one thing Karunya stands for, it is work-life balance. Her husband helps her with setting up the IT infrastructure, leases, etc., and she focuses on her core competence of accounting, taxation and statutory filings. She volunteers at Mitra Jyoti, a school for visually impaired women.

Karunya is a family friend and I once asked her if she could help do IT returns for us.

She said, ‘Sorry Prasad, I don’t do IT returns for individuals. I am much too stretched right now.’ She can tell you what she can and can’t do very candidly.

I asked, ‘Karunya, how are you able to manage work and family?’

She said, ‘It is a choice which people make. If somebody is really bothered about not being able to spend time with family, then they will automatically cut their responsibilities to do that. We have one life, and I want to spend time with my family. Otherwise, one fine day, I will wake up and feel that my daughter has grown up and I haven’t spent time with her.’

But this doesn’t mean that Karunya has capped her professional aspirations. She continues to add people and clients.

‘How do you keep your customers happy?’

‘My customers are happy because I have assigned good people to each customer account and we have rigorous processes in place to ensure that all customer deliverables are met. I delegate a lot, but ensure consistent reviews.’

‘Do you travel? Meet clients?’ I asked.

She said, ‘Yes, of course, I meet clients and if you have clients please refer them to us. I prefer software clients because I understand that business.’

I have seen very few women like Karunya who have clearly defined what they want in life. She was ranked thirteenth in her CA exam in the women’s category, which puts her in an above-average achiever category. She spends time with her family, manages her business and lives a full life. Not many can boast of doing that. She is adept at multitasking and at any given point in time she can focus on multiple issues.

I have seen people spending many hours at work and still not delivering high levels of performance. During one employee dinner, the spouse of an employee said to me, ‘The company is making my husband work too hard, he is hardly home. He works on weekends too.’

I made a mental note of this and asked HR to give me a report. It turned out that although this employee was spending long hours at the office, his productivity was very low; the reason being that he was unable to detach himself mentally from work. He felt comfortable chatting, answering mails and filing in reports; he felt comfortable being in office. For him high performance was sitting in the office and doing something. But to me, doing ‘something’ doesn’t count. I would be happier if the employee spent time with his family.

In the IT industry, with reduced budgets and increasing costs, the demand on time has increased manifold and most projects have crunched schedules. Bachelors tend to spend weekends in office where they get the opportunity to catch up on deliverables and also since most of them live in PG (paying guest) accommodations, they often get bored sitting in their rooms, so office becomes a great place to hang out with friends. The canteen provides decent meals, and they have unlimited access to the Internet. People use this free time to innovate and learn, while a large majority surf the Net, use social networking sites, and download music and videos from the Net. From a company point of view, the overheads increase significantly because the company has to provide for power, bandwidth, security and related facilities to manage the place over the weekends.

Personally, I think weekends are family time. Just like the way we respect Monday to Friday as work time, both employers and employees should respect Saturdays and Sundays as family time. Try calling any professional acquaintance of yours in the US on a Saturday to discuss work; the response most likely will be, ‘Can this wait till Monday?’ People in the West respect their personal time and don’t expect to be called over the weekends. Similarly, they don’t disturb their Indian counterparts over the weekends.

Without overgeneralizing, from my limited observation I notice that many career-driven and ambitious people often tend to stay long hours at office, stick mostly with office mates and constantly try proving to themselves, their peers and their managers that they are really good. They look for constant positive strokes from people around them and that keeps them going. The ‘I-factor’ in these people is usually very high. Sometimes, it becomes very discernable and their careers begin to plateau. When people manage the ‘I-factor’ and focus on the ‘we-factor’, life changes and people get better chances of playing senior roles. I am not saying everyone is like that, but many are. A lot of these people typically don’t balance their work and personal lives. Their personal relationships take a beating which eventually leads to stress and bad habits. Citing reasons of networking, people pick up smoking and after-hours’ drinking. The sedentary lifestyle doesn’t help either. Hypertension and stress-related diabetes is the most common ailment among today’s executives. By their early forties, their health deteriorates, performance dips and their careers start waning. Trends indicate that angioplasty is becoming common in the early forties.

I have also noticed that people have the same friends outside and inside office. Office friends visit each other over weekends, they go out and hang out together and the topic of conversation is usually about what happens in the office. There is nothing wrong with that; it is good to have strong social bonds with people from office. However, when you are always with the same set of people, the richness of experience diminishes and people tend to develop a parochial outlook.

A career is a long journey, with short-distance destinations. For most people, becoming the head of a function, vertical, programme or a company is the ultimate destination. But what happens when you get there? The higher you climb, the harder you have to perform. The pressure is greatest at the top. In reality, when it comes to careers, there is no such thing as an ultimate destination. You have to keep working till you decide ‘enough is enough’. The definition of a career is changing. It now includes enjoying the journey, having small wins along the way, leading a happy family life and hopefully getting to a realistic high point in life. In the end you must feel satisfied about having done something with your life.

Statistics indicate that the numbers of people who make it to senior management positions are less than 1.5 per cent of the total working population. Though they might not spell this out, in almost every company, top managements have a clear idea of the talent and know who can make it and who cannot make it to the top. Top management grooms and invests time in people who have a long runway ahead of them. With the rest of the people, senior management spends time to motivate and keep active social bonds. Observe carefully and you will know where you stand. Once you know where you stand, it is best to be realistic, leverage your strengths and feel great about life. It is important to be in the race, win and grow—it is also important to be realistic and be balanced.

People like Karunya are leading the pack. They seem to know what they want out of life. They have made a choice. They know what is important for them. They are realistic in their expectations and are leading happy lives. You have to decide what is important for you and seek answers for leading a happy life. If a career is what you are after, great; learn to balance it out.

Note from the Author

The business and management world has made tremendous strides in the last two decades. Globalization and a new economic-social context, driven by strong political will and the awakening of spiritual consciousness both in the East and West seem to be driving people to better professional and personal well-being. New technologies are diminishing physical boundaries and are giving great fillip to diversity, intellectual enrichment and social connectivity. The world we live in seems to constantly change, but the underlying tenets of what people value seems to be just the same.

On 14 March 2011 the Times of India reported an interesting news item. Talking about ‘Project Oxygen’, Laszlo Bock, Google’s vice-president for ‘people operations’, explained that Google began analysing performance reviews, feedback surveys and nomination for top manager-awards. The people analytics teams at Google produced what is called the eight habits of highly effective Google managers and ‘technical expertise, the ability, to say, write computer programs, came the last among the eight habits’. People valued managers who spent one-on-one time, asked the right questions, did not dictate answers, and who took interest in employees’ lives and careers. At the end of the day, people like to learn, dream, aspire, grow, contribute and be valued. That is what I tried capturing in this book.

The themes and stories reflect the ‘people paradigm’, and I tried capturing the relevant pointers in my interactions with some unusual people—ordinary people, who strive hard to do extraordinary things!

I hope you find the book useful, and good luck in all your endeavours!

References

‘Note from the Author’: ‘Google keys for better bosses’, The Times of India 14 March 2001.

‘Creating Value’: ‘Misys Sells Seasame for USD 178.2 Million’, Computer Business Review, 15 May 2007.

‘Creating Value’: HIS talk—‘Misys Sells off Sunquest, CPR, Exiting the Hospital Systems Business’.

‘Creating Value’: ‘Misys plc to Buy 54.5% of Allscripts; Firms Form New Company’, Wall Street Journal’s digital network. www.marketwatch.com.

‘Creating Value’: ‘Misys Sells Allscripts Stake; Enables Eclipsys Merger (update 1)’, Bloomberg, Businessweek, 8 May 2011.

‘Creating Value’: ‘Misys to Buy Software Vendor Sophis for USD 593 Million’, Bloomberg, Businessweek, 12 November 2010.

‘Creating Value’: Yahoo.com UK and Ireland for ticker quotes of early 2011 for stock GBP 3.25.

‘Stirring Recipes’: www.worldgourmetsummit.com Master Chefs, 18–29 April 2005.

‘Stirring Recipes’: ‘What We Really Eat in India’, www.guardian.co.uk.

‘Emerging Internet Users’: ‘Google India launches The Internet Bus Project’, TNW, The Nextweb Technology News, Business and Culture.

‘Emerging Internet Users’: Google Noticeboard: Access and Share Information over Internet’, www.readerszone.com, Technology, Security, Software Review.

‘Emerging Internet Users’: T’Internet Usage Statistics of India, A 2010 report’, www.goospoos.com.

‘Meeting Campus Graduates’: Peter Drucker, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Harper Business, Harper Collins 1999.

‘Technology for Self-Help Groups’: ‘DOT-USOFs Gender budget scheme ‘Sanchar Shakti’ launched by the President …’, www.economicinitiatives. com.

‘Participatory Democracy’: ‘The Experience of the Participative Budget in Porto Alegre, Brazil’, www.unesco.org.

‘Participatory Democracy’: ‘Participatory Budgeting’, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ participatory_budgeting.

‘Participatory Democracy’ : ‘Set up of India.png’, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ file: setup_of_india.png.

‘Participatory Democracy’: ‘Mega Urban Investment Scheme’, www. projectsmonitor.com.

‘Dump Your Leather Wallet’ : For all the mission statements: www.google.com (corporate information), www.avaya.com (corporate information), www.anheuser-busch.com (corporate information), www.ibm.com (corporate information), www.miscrosoft.com (corporate information), www.starbucks.com (corporate information).

‘Simple Living, High Thinking’: ‘Chairman Speak’, www.microsoft.com/india/keynote.aspx.

‘Culture Integration Key to Mergers’: ‘Alcatel-Lucent Technologies Inc., merger announcement conference call transcript’, www.seekingalpha.com, Read, Decide, Invest.

‘Culture Integration Key to Mergers’: Eric Beaudan and Greg Smith, ‘Corporate Culture: Asset or Liability’, Ivey Business Journal, March/April 2000.

‘Culture Integration Key to Mergers’: ‘Culture impact on Mergers and Acquisitions’, 2006 White Paper from the Economic Intelligence Unit.

‘Culture Integration Key to Mergers’: ‘The DaimlerChrysler Merger’, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, no. 1–0071.

‘Culture Integration Key to Mergers’: ‘IT Acquisition Integration’, CISCO IT case study.

‘Giving is Important, Not How Much’: Arthur C. Brooks, ‘A Nation of Givers’, The American, The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, March-April 2008.

‘Giving is Important, Not How Much’: News article on the growth of per-capita income, rediff.com, 9 February 2009.

‘Plan A, Wharton, and Think Tanks’: Wikipedia definition on Think Tanks.

‘Plan A, Wharton and Think Tanks’: Council of Foreign Relations, ‘Advisors to US Presidents’, publication 16188, p. 4.

‘Plan A, Wharton and Think Tanks’: Bill George (Ex-CEO of Meditronic) talks posted on YouTube detailing about Howard Shultz (CEO, Starbucks).

‘Pop Song in School Assembly’: Hindi pop song ‘Jahan ho pyaar ka mausam’ from Viva.

‘Outstanding Woman Manager 2009’: Women can no longer talk about freedom in isolation’, www.hindu.com, 15 March 2009.

‘Ambiguity–Direction grid’: NAURO NATIVE KNOWS POSIT HE CAN PILOT 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT KENNEDY, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy.

‘Transforming Healthcare’: www.alscripts.com / Corporate information.

‘Transforming Healthcare’ : For all vision statements: www.ford.com; www. walmart.com; www.avon.com; www.kraftfoodscompany.com.

‘Transforming Healthcare’: For stock information between time intervals: http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote. asp? symbol=MDRX&selected=MDRX.

‘Three initiatives’: Interview with the Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein interviewed by Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Ford website.

‘Building Trust’: www.jyothylaboratories.com for location and people information.

‘Building Trust’: ‘Ullas Kamath of Jyothy Labs wins ICAI 2008 CA Business Achievers Award’, www.indiainfoline.com.

‘Trees for Free’: Raile, G.K. and Leatherberry, ‘Benefits of trees in urban areas’, E.C., 1988, Illinois forest resource.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to revered Professor P.S. Satsangi Sahab for keeping me afloat. My son Rishi helped me with his innocent questions, made me realize the power of small stories and gave life to my thoughts, though inadvertently. He could easily have been my co-author.

Savitha, my wife, supported me by giving me space and time to write. My parents and my brother Das have been abundant sources of love and inspiration. My sincere thanks to our home-keeper Kala for taking care of Rishi, nursing me back to my feet, running our house, and keeping us going. My driver Mahesh needs mention for accommodating my atrocious timings and running all my errands.

Kumar, my best friend since childhood, kept my spirits going. Despite knowing my writing abilities, Vish incessantly goaded me to write and that helped. Bhuvan, Alok, Naren and Chanda—my B-school hangout gang—for all the good times we had. Thank you for being there for me.

Special thanks to Misys Plc, particularly Mike Lawrie, CEO, Misys, and Cory Eaves, senior VP, General Atlantic Partners—both of you have left an indelible impression on me. Mike Sainsbury, Rick Bernard, Mark Winterburn, Manoj Kumar, Sankar R.S., Krishnaswamy Subba Rao, Prasanna, Tarun Bhargava, Vineet Prasani and Anand Srinivasan and so many more from Misys for their generous support. Mala, my ever-smiling executive assistant at Misys, thank you for your attention and diligence.

Thank you also to:

Frank Lewski, Susan Vance Johnson, Diana Tyson, Tom Glasscock, Mary Martinez, Rudolf Kenneth, Pierre Beretti, Saltuk Ertop, Vivek Mohan, Ronald D’souza, Manojit Dhar, Bill Kaser and Solomon Ravikumar from Alcatel–Lucent for adding spice to life.

Ashok Soota, Subroto Bagchi, Krishna Kumar, Janakiraman, Anjan Lahiri, Rostow Ravanan, Parthasarathy, Scott Staples, Joseph King, Eric Mann, Babuji Abraham, R.K. Veeraraghavan, Amit, and so many others from MindTree who made the journey interesting.

D. Ashok, Susheela, Hari Rajagopalachari, Deepak Purohit, Ramesh Srinivasan, Subba Rao, Neelesh Thakare, Hrishikesh, Balaji, Sabu, Alaganandhan and other fellow consulting champions from Coopers & Lybrand for introducing me to the world of Consulting.

Azim Premji, Brian Jones, Vasudevamurthy, R. Vidyasagar, Ramesh Chandra, Revathi Kasturi, Ramkumar, Pramodh Menon, T.P. Prasad, Suresh Ramachandran, Pawan, Praveen, Rajiv and Ajay for the early lessons at Wipro.

I would like to thank all the people I worked and professionally interacted with for helping me learn and grow. All of you have been unusual in some way or the other. This book would not have been possible without you.

I would like to convey my appreciation to Veena Lokesh for helping edit the first draft. I would also like to thank Penguin’s publishing editor, Udayan Mitra, for agreeing to publish this book and for his kind support.

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First published in Portfolio by Penguin Books India 2011

Copyright © T.G.C. Prasad 2011

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ISBN: 978-01-4341-675-3

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